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THERNRE 

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GIONAL  LIBRARY 

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FACILITV 

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THE  LIBRARY 

OF 

THE  UNIVERSITY 

OF  CALIFORNIA 

LOS  ANGELES 


MASTER   M.   WILLIAM    WRinHT.   BY  PRINCE  PIERRE  TROUBETSKOY. 


^K 


^  Architecture 

and 

^Decoration, 

fc^  fcj  fej  fc2  fcj 

IN  THEIR.  HISTORY- 
'DEVELOPMEHTo^  PRINCIPLES 


EDITOR,*  IN  ♦  CHIEF 

EDMUND  BUCKLEY, A.M., Pli.D,liniwnrityofCKica9o 

CONSULTI/fC   EDITOFLS 

J.  M  .HOPPIN.D.D.,  Yak  University 

ALFRED  V.  CHURCHILL ,A.M.,  Columbia Univerrity 


fUI/y    niusiraivd 


NATIONAL    ART    SOCIETY 
Chicago 


Art 
Library 


Copyright,  1907,  bj  W.  E.  ERNST. 


By  couite^y  of  the  lu'tim  J*hoto,  Co. 

SYMPOSIUM    OF    IM,ATO.        FKIKRBAL'H.       (SEK    LESSUN     12.) 


Painting  of  the  Nineteenth  Century  in  Germany, 
Holland,  Scandinavia  and  Russia. 


ROBERT   KOEHLER, 

DIRECTOR   OK  TIIK    MINNEAPOLIS    SCHOOL   OF    FINE   ARTS. 


INTRODUCTION.  CLASSICISM,  (i) 
Within  the  limited  space  allowed,  it  is 
not  possible  to  give  a  complete  history 
of  the  art  cf  painting  in  the  nineteenth 
century  in  the  countries  named.  But  an 
effort  is  made  to  bring  before  the  student  a 
clear  picture  of  the  changing  conditions  out 
of  which  the  art  dominating  certain  periods 
has  grown ;  and  also  to  explain  the  nature 
of  the  gradual  development,  which,  rooting 
in  a  false  conception  of  the  province  of  art 
at  the  beginning  of  the  century,  resulted, 
towards  the  end  of  it,  in  a  thoroughly  healthy 
aPQ  vital  art  sentiment  Since  this  is  still 
not  fully  realized  even  among  painters,  it  is 
not  surprising  that  the  vast  n'">;'^rity  of  tlie 
public  should  continue  to  entertain  entirely 
false  ideas  about  art  based  on  traditions  of 


bygone  periods,  and  still  persist  in  admir- 
ing works  that  utterlj'  fail  to  meet  the 
requirements  of  an  honest,  unbiased  and 
enlightened  criticism.  It  is  neither  an  easy 
nor  an  altogether  pleasant  task  to  shatter 
popular  idols;  but  the  historian  cannot  be 
guided  in  his  estimate  of  an  artist's  merits 
by  his  popularity,  or  the  esteem  in  which 
he  may  have  been  held  during  his  lifetime. 
It  has  been  said,  that  an  artist's  real  merit 
can  only  be  judged  by  his  relation  to  his 
own  times;  this  is  only  measurably  true, 
and  has  nothing  to  do  with  a  final  judgment 
of  his  period,  which  may  be  found  sadly 
wanting,  and  the  condemnation  of  which 
will  include  his  own  doom,  while  some 
almost  forgotten  contemporary  may  re- 
ceive high  praise  for  merits  utterly  ignored 
in   his  time.     Of  the   present,   therefore,   it 


579 


867272 


5  So 


PAINTING  OF  THE  NINETEENTH 


may  not  be  altogether  safe  to  speak  with 
too  much  confidence,  except  in  so  far  as  the 
achievements  stand  in  relation  to  generally 
accepted  principles  of  progress. 

Many  names  must  necessarily  be  omitted 
from  this  brief  review,  though  they  may 
have  equal  claims  with  some  that  are  men- 
tioned. If  the  earlier  artists  have  received 
more  extensive  consideration,  it  is  because 
their  careers  have  closed  and  a  more  com- 
prehensive estimate  of  their  importance  to 
the  history  of  art  was  possible,  while  the 
work  of  many  of  the  living  has  not  yet 
'assumed  that  definite  character  by  which 
they  may  ultimately  be  judged. 

To  understand  the  art  of  the  nineteenth 
century,  we  must  first  gain  a  clear  concep- 
tion of  the  conditions  prevailing  at  the  end 
of  the  eighteenth,  wlien  the  joyous  art  of 
the  Rococo  period  had  been  superseded  by 
a  cold  and  formal  Classicism.  In  1764 
Winckelmann  published  his  "History  of 
Ancient  Art,"  nnd  two  years  later  Lessing 
followed  with  his  "Laokoon. "  The  long- 
neglected  beauty  of  antique  sculpture  was 
once  more  brought  to  the  attention  of  man- 
kind, and  by  his  sincere  enthusiasm  Winckel- 
mann carried  all  the  world  with  him  in  his 
admiration  for  the  newly-discovered  beauty, 
so  that  art  found  a  new  model  after  which 
to  shape  its  conception  of  the  ideal.  A  new 
ideal!  Ever  since  the  ravages  of  the  thirty 
years'  war,  art  in  Germany  had  led  but  a 
pitiable  existence.  Painters  there  were, 
but  not  a  single  one  whose  name  stands  for 
anything  great  or  remarkable  in  art.  When- 
ever anything  above  the  average  appeared, 
it  was  the  work  of  a  foreigner;  home  talent 
found  no  encouragement.  As  in  the  fine 
arts,  so  in  literature  the  national  spirit 
seemed  destined  to  wither,  until  Lessing 
appeared  and  was  followed  by  Schiller  and 
Goethe  whose  genius  marks  the  most  bril- 
liant epoch  in  German  literature.  The  lat- 
ter in  his  earlier  writings  severely  attacked 
contemporary  art,  and  gave  preference  to 
the  old  German  school  of  Diirer;  but  after 
his  journey  to  Italy  a  change  came  over 
him  and  henceforth  the  Greek  ideal  was 
Goethe's  also.  While  Schiller's  connec- 
tion with  fine  arts  is  less  intimate,  the 
change   from  his  earlier,    sounder  views  to 


his  later  homage  to   classic   art    is   no  less 
significant. 

We  need  but  briefly  mention  that  Winckel- 
mann's  teachings  were  more  readily 
absorbed  by  the  gifted  Anton  Rafael  Mengs, 
and  by  the  foremost  woman-painter  of  her 
time,  Angelica  Kaufmann.  Mengs  was 
certainly  a  notable  colorist  and  also  pos- 
sessed of  great  technical  skill.  But 
Winckelmann's  ideal  of  beauty  was  one  of 
form  only;  it  was  the  beauty  chiseled  in 
marble  by  the  Greeks,  v/hich  to  his  percep- 
tion never  revealed  any  charm  of  color, 
never  required  any.  To  create  beautiful 
forms,  as  the  Greeks  had  done,  was  the  only 
worthy  ambition  for  a  painter;  the  nearer 
he  could  approach  the  ancients  in  this 
respect,  the  greater  w^as  his  art. 

In  the  life  of  their  surroundings  the  paint- 
ers found  no  subjects  that  would  readily  lend 
themselves  to  representation  in  this  shape, 
so  they  very  naturally  turned  to  mythology 
for  the  purpose,  and  produced  works  which 
showed  their  intimate  knowledge  of  classical 
beauty — and  their  contempt  for  life.  Their 
pictures  are  in  reality  only  so  many  Greek 
statues,  painted. 

But  why  paint  their  statues?  Since  all 
their  adored  originals  were  of  white  marble, 
would  it  not  be  more  rational  to  render  their 
own  conceptions  also  without  the  use  of 
color?  And  this  they  proceeded  to  do,  con- 
gratulating themselves — and  the  world — that 
now  a  new  epoch  had  opened  for  grand  art! 

A.  J.  Carstens  takes  the  lead  in  this  new 
art.  Born  in  1754  in  St.  Jiirgen,  near 
Schleswig,  he  evinced  quite  early  a  talent 
for  art.  The  literature  of  the  time  had  a 
powerful  influence  on  his  sensitive  soul,  and 
he  was  filled  with  a  longing  to  behold  and 
study  the  grand  masterpieces  of  Greek  art. 
Entering  the  Academy  at  Copenhagen,  he 
soon  found  himself  in  dispute  with  his 
teachers,  and  left  the  school,  preferring  to 
follow  his  own  course.  He  devoted  himself 
arduously  to  the  study  of  the  antique,  not, 
however,  drawing  directly  from  the  casts, 
but  taking  mental  notes  and  drawing  the 
figures  from  memory.  His  desire  to  behold 
the  original  marbles  in  Rome  he  could  not 
satisfy  until  his  thirty-eighth  year,  when  his 
style  was  already  fully  developed  and  ere- 


CENTURY  IN  GERMANY. 


581 


ated  something  of  a  sensation,  as  he  himself 
asserts  in  reporting  about  the  exhibition  of 
his  works  which  he  had  arranged  in  Rome. 
Judged  by  the  standard  of  to-day,  we  find 
little  of  any  real  artistic  value  in  these 
drawings  in  black  and  white — for  such  they 
were;  but  viewed  from  the  standpoint  of 
their  age  we  may  understand,  though  we  do 
not  endorse,  the  high  praise  bestowed  upon 
them,  when  art  was  following  ditTcrent 
paths,  from  the  strange  windings  and  color- 
less vistas  of  which  it  did  not  turn  for  more 
than  half  a  century.  Carstens  died  in 
Rome,  1798. 

Among  those  who  continued  to  work  in 
the  spirit  of  Carstens,  we  need  but  mention 
the  foremost  one: 

Bonaventura  Qenelli  (1803-1868),  was  the 
son  of  a  landscape-painter  of  some  xenown 
in  his  day.  He  was  a  better  draughtsman, 
and  in  the  choice  of  his  subjects  not  so  one- 
sided. But  he  too  recognizes  only  the  Greek 
ideal,  and  is  sparing  in  the  use  of  colors. 
Where  he  employs  it,  the  result  is  not  a 
painting,  but  mcrelj'  a  Colored  drawing,  as 
in  his  frescoes  in  the  so-called  "Roman 
House"  in  Leipzig.  What  may  justly  be 
accorded  him  of  fame,  is  owing  mainly  to 
his  cartoons  and  smaller  drawings,  illustrat- 
ing Homer,  Dante  and,  especially,  The 
Life  of  a  Rake,  and  The  Life  of  a  Witch, 
in  all  of  which  he  displays  a  fine  feeling  for 
grace  of  line.  He  fails  sadly  in  facial 
expression,  which  is  cither  vapid  or  forced 
to  a  grimace.  Genelli  was  the  last  of  the 
"Classicists"  of  any  importance.  The  art 
of  the  period  following  was  that  of  Roman- 
ticism. 


T 


HE  INFLUENCE  OF  LITER- 
ATURE ON  THE  CLASSIC 
PERIOD.  (2) 


It  seems  strange  at  this  day,  that 
an  utterance  like  the  following  could  ema- 
nate from  Winckelmann,  a  man  of  truly  great 
and  profound  learning:  "The  sole  means 
for  us  to  become — ay,  if  possilile,  inimitabl)' 
great,  is  in  the  imitation  of  the  ancients." 

It  is  certainly  not  true  that  any  grand  art 
has  ever  sprung  from  imitation  of  what  is 


foreign  and  alien  to  its  very  nature.  Gran- 
deur in  art  is  a  product  of  evolution,  and 
results  from  the  development  of  an  inner 
consciousness,  not  from  foreign  guidance 
and  advice,  accepted  in  good  faith  and  nour- 
ished with  the  arrogant  conceit  "I  will!" 

We  shall  see  that  it  was  not  the  work  of 
the  classicists  that  bore  the  vital  spark  from 
which  a  healthy  art  could  ultimately  spring 
into  life.  For  classicism,  unwittingly,  let  us 
concede,  did  its  utmost  to  kill  this  spark 
which  was,  almost  as  unconsciously,  kept 
alive  by  that  little,  unpretentious  bandof  il- 
lustrators, who,  with  pencil  and  graver,  kept 
a  pictorial  record  of  the  manner  and  customs 
of  their  time,  which  the  classicists,  and  their 
early  followers,  the  romanticists,  were  all 
too  eager  to  ignore  or  to  ridicule.  Whoever 
did  not  aspire  to  the  proud  distinction  of  a 
"historical  painter"  was  not  deemed  worthy 
of  ranking  as  an  artist.  The  professional  art- 
critic  and  art-historian,  in  the  production  of 
which  species  the  age  became  prolific,  had 
no  use  for  him;  the  "grand  art"  appealed  to 
the  ranks  of  the  educated  classes,  with 
whom  the  pursuit  of  classical  knowledge  and 
indulgence  in  philosophical  thought  seemed 
the  chief  object  of  life.  And  since  in  their 
hands  lay  the  molding  of  national  thotight, 
and  from  their  ranks  hailed  the  commenta- 
tors of  the  artists'  creations,  as  well  as  their 
patrons  and  advisors,  it  was  but  natural  that 
those  who  pursued  ditTferent  aims  in  art 
should  receive  but  scant  notice,  and  be 
allowed  to  fall  into  oblivion.  Only  a  later, 
more  critical  and,  withal,  more  tolerant 
age  learned  to  appreciate  their  true  value 
and  find  in  their  works  the  germ  from 
which  a  healthy  and  robust  art  was  destined 
to  grow. 

Later  ages  may  take  a  calmer  view  of  this 
strange  perversion  which  e.Kalted  the  alien 
and  artificial  above  the  native  and  true. 
The  living,  who  have  seen  the  false  gods 
perish,  and  assisted  in  their  banishment, 
may  be  pardoned  if  at  times  their  ardor 
leads  them  too  far  in  praise  of  the  newer 
and  condemnation  of  the  older  ideals;  the 
reaction  was  bound  to  come,  and  an  age 
that  delights  and  revels  in  color  and  light 
can  hardly  be  expected  to  feel  tolerant 
towards  another  whose  foremost  represen- 


582 


PAINTING  OF  THE  NINETE  -.NTH 


tative,  Peter  von  Cornelius,  could  say:  "The 
brush  has  become  the  ruin  of  our  art!" 

In  Germany  the  re-discovery  of  the  antique 
was  not,  as  in  Italy  at  the  time  of  the  Re- 
naissance, accompanied  by  a  loving  study 
of  nature.  It  did  not  occur  to  the  cham- 
pions of  the  "new  idea"  that  the  Greeks 
must  have  arrived  at  their  conception  of  the 
beautiful  through  close  study  of  the  living 
human  form,  and  that  they  had  in  the  end 
created  types  which  approached  perfection, 
as  they  understood  it,  as  nearly  as  lay  within 
their  power.  It  was  enough  for  them  to 
see  that  s;ich  beauty  existed  in  the  marble, 
and  what  mortal  could  ever  hope  to  surpass 
it?  Therefore  we  can  but  attempt  to  lend 
to  our  creations  the  same  forms  of  beauty, 
said  they ;  for  beauty  is  the  first  principle  in 
art.  "Beauty!  What  it  is.  I  know  not!" 
Diirer  had  exclaimed  three  hundred  years 
before;  and  still  he  had  studied  it  all  his 
life,  had  seen  what  the  art  of  the  North  and 
that  of  the  South  was  then  bringing  forth, 
had  learned  and  preached,  that  true  art  "lay 
hid  in  nature,  and  whoever  can  pluck  it  out 
thence  hath  made  it  his." 

But  Diirer  had  long  fallen  into  neglect 
and  though  Goethe  insisted  that  he  saw 
more  beauty  in  his  "angular"  figures  than 
in  the  smooth  paintings  of  the  (then)  pres- 
ent age,  he  could  not  stem  the  tide  of  popular 
feeling  in  art,  was  indeed,  as  already  stated, 
carried  with  it  after  his  journey  to  Italy. 

There  were  not  wanting  words  of  pro- 
test and  warning  against  the  tendency  into 
which  art  was  drifting.  As  early  as  1776 
the  librarian  Wilhelm  Heinse  insists:  "Art 
can  only  direct  itself  to  the  people  with 
whom  it  lives.  Every  one  works  for  the 
people  amongst  whom  fate  has  thrown  him, 
and  seeks  to  plumb  its  heart.  Every  coun- 
try has  its  own  distinctive  art,  just  as  it  has 
its  own  climate,  its  scenery,  its  own  taste 
and  its  own  drink." 

Schiller,  in  a  letter  to  Goethe  in  1800, 
writes:  "The  antique  was  a  manifestation 
of  its  age  which  can  never  return,  and  to 
force  the  individual  production  of  an  indi- 
vidual age  after  the  pattern  of  one  quite 
heterogeneous,  is  to  kill  that  art  which  can 
only  have  a  dynamic  origin  and  effect." 

And   of  artists,  too,  there   were   those   of 


other  ways  of  thinking ;  but  their  voices 
were  as  the  voice  in  the  desert;  their  works 
created  no  enthusiasm  and  gained  no  popu- 
larity among  those  who  posed  as  the  patrons 
of  true  art. 

In  the  year  1810  Philip  Otto  Runge  died 
at  Hamburg.  Art  historians  before  Dr. 
Muther  do  not  mention  his  name.  His  pic- 
tures did  not  find  their  way  into  museums 
until  recently,  and  only  now  he  is  found  to 
have  been  an  artist  in  every  way  far  ahead 
of  his  time.  He  was  likewise  a  poet  and  an 
author,  and  of  his  opinions  on  art  we  learn 
among  other  things:  "We  see  how  the 
race  has  altered  most  clearly  in  the  works 
of  art  of  all  ages,  and  how  the  same  time 
has  never  returned  again.  How,  then,  can 
we  light  upon  the  unlucky  notion  of  wishing 
to  call  the  old  art  back!"  And  again: 
"The  notion  is,  that  the  painter  must  go  to 
Italy!  Might  it  not  be  supposed  that  the 
great  works  of  art  which  are  to  be  seen 
there  lead  posterity  away  from  their  own 
ideas,  and  stifle  what  stands  vividly  before 
theirimagination?  It  is  far  better  to  make  art 
live  than  to  live  by  art.  .  .  .  We  must  become 
as  children,  if  we  would  attain  the  best." 

Meanv^hile  the  French  Revolution  of  1789- 
1799  had  wrought  great  social  and  political 
changes,  and  the  "third  estate,"  the  "bour- 
geoisie, "had  gained  for  itself  a  command- 
ing  position    in    the   affairs    of   public  life. 

Through  German  literature  was  stimulated 
to  its  noblest  efforts,  conditions  were  unfa- 
vorable to  the  development  of  the  fine  arts. 
Of  all  the  German  painters  of  this  period, 
Anton  Qraff  (i  736-1813)  at  Dresden,  Johann 
Edlinger  (1741-1819)  at  Munich,  and,  in  a 
measure,  Wilhelm  Tischbein  (1751-1829)  have 
secured  indisputable  reputations  as  portrait 
painters,  Graff  especially  deserving  our 
attention  for  the  numerous  portraits  of  con- 
temporaneous poets  and  writers  which 
sprang  from  his  brush. 


ROMANTICISM.  (3) 
But  the  nursery  of  what  came  to 
be  officially  recognized  as  the  Ger- 
man art   of  the   period  was  trans- 
ferred to  Rome  at  the  beginning  of  the  cen- 


CENTURY  IN  GERMANY. 


583 


tury.  Overbeck,  Cornelius,  Veit  and 
Schadow,  joined  later  by  Fuhrich,  Steinle, 
and  Schnorr,  finding  conditions  at  home  too 
restless  and  uncertain,  hied  themselves  to 
the  Eternal  City,  and,  animated  by  the  same 
lofty  ambition  of  founding  a  new  school  of 
art,  soon  felt  themselves  closely  drawn 
together  in  their  admiration  of  the  works  by 
the  masters  of  the  Quatrocento.  In  the 
cloister  of  St.  Isidoro  they  found  an  ideal 
retreat,  where  they  lived  and  worked. 
While  taking  a  decided  stand  in  opposition 
to  the  Classicists,  whose  pagan  spirit  they 
abhorred,  in  one  respect  at  least  they  fol- 
lowed their  example,  in  their  indifference 
to — nay,  their  studied  avoidance  of  all  col- 
oristic  charms.  Painting,  according  to  their 
point  of  view,  had  become  utterly  demor- 
alized during  the  Rococo  period,  serving 
none  but  a  worldly  purpose  as  mere  decora- 
tion, regardless  of  truth  to  nature  in  either 
form  or  color.  To  rescue  art  from  certain 
ruin  there  seemed  but  one  possible  course 
to  pursue,  to  return  to  the  primitive  con- 
ception of  the  pre-Raphaelite  period  of  Ital- 
ian art.  True,  this  was  not  so  utterly 
devoid  of  color,  and  certainly  not  deliber- 
ately so,  as  our  new  "reformers"  chose  to 
be.  The  primitivism  to  which  they  had 
returned  in  their  conception  and  execution 
was  not  considered,  as  one  might  reasonably 
have  allowed,  a  new  beginning  from  which 
they  expected  to  evolve  to  higher  perfec- 
tion; it  was  really  the  alpha  and  omega  of 
their  art,  from  which  they  were  never  to 
stray,  at  the  risk  of  denying  the  purity  of 
their  purpose. 

Theirs  was  certainly  a  departure  from  the 
ways  of  joyous,  sparkling  Rococo,  and  of 
the  Classicists,  who  were  worshiping  at  the 
shrine  of  Hellas.  But  it  was  still  far  from 
the  sound  and  rational  course  which  alone 
could  lead  to  a  desirable  result,  since  it  took 
but  little  heed  of  a  conscientious  study  of 
nature  and  found  nothing  worthy  of  the 
artist's  notice  in  contemporary  life. 

The  age  was  one  of  great  literary  produc- 
tiveness. Wilhelm  Heinrich  Wackenroder, 
Ludwig  Tieck  and  the  brothers  Schlegel  had 
founded  the  Romantic  school  in  literature; 
and  our  young  artists  could  not  but  imbibe 
much  of  the  reigning  spirit  in  the  world  of 


thought.  They  were  in  constant  inter- 
course with  such  German  scholars  as  Nie- 
buhr,  Bunsen  and  others,  and  were  welcome 
guests  at  the  house  of  the  Prussian  consul 
Bartholdi  at  Rome,  where  all  who  could  lay 
any  claim  to  distinction  were  always  welcome. 

Friedrich  Overbeck  (1789-1869)  had  come 
to  Rome  in  iSio.  He  became  the  recog- 
nized leader  of  this  little  colony  of  enthu- 
siastic artists.  His  was  a  deeply  religious 
nature,  and  he  seemed  possessed  of  the  idea 
that  only  through  leading  the  pure  and  holy 
life  of  a  Fra  Angelico  could  he  hope  to 
accomplish  anything  worthy  of  the  name  of 
art.  To  him  art  was  a  religion  and  found 
its  purest  expression  only  in  the  early  Chris- 
tian masters,  to  whose  faith  he  felt  he  must 
return  in  order  to  work  in  their  spirit.  This 
he  did,  irrespective  of  all  well-meaning 
attempts  of  his  friends  to  dissuade  him. 

In  order  to  fully  comprehend  the  art  of 
Overbeck  and  his  friends,  we  must  under- 
stand the  attitude  which  they  assumed 
towards  the  art  of  the  preceding  age.  The 
classicists,  Carstens,  Genelli  and  others, 
intoxicated  with  the  ideal  of  Greek  beauty, 
had  found  inspiration  in  classical  Rome; 
their  art  had  no  use  for  the  sumptuous 
splendor  of  decorative  Rococo  with  its  re- 
fined technical  requirements  The  Roman- 
ticists were  attracted  by  Christian  Rome. 
Their  feeling  was  as  much  opposed  to  the 
sensuousness  of  Rococo  coloring  as  to  the 
cold  and  lifeless  reproduction  of  antiquity 
by  the  Classicists,  and  they  arrived  at  the 
conclusion  that,  in  order  to  build  up  a  new 
school  of  art,  they  must  return  to  the  primi- 
tive conception  of  nature  of  the  pre-Raphael- 
ite period,  and  their  apologists  would  have 
us  believe  that  the}'  devoted  themselves  to 
a  serious  and  intimate  study  of  nature.  In 
truth  they  did  nothing  of  tlie  kind;  of  this 
their  life  and  their  works  give  indisputable 
evidence;  for  an  intimate  and  conscientious 
study  of  nature  precludes  all  imitation  of 
earlier  methods  and  masters,  and  while  its 
beginnings  may  be  of  a  primitive  kind,  it 
must  necessarily  lead  to  a  strong  and  healthy 
naturalism  in  art,  unless  checked  by  some 
self-imposed  restraint,  as  was  the  case  here, 
where  the  highest  aim  seemed  ever  to  be, 
not  to  go  beyond  certain  bounds.     In  the 


584 


PAINTING  OF  THE  NINETEENTH 


nature  of  things,  such  principles  could  be 
conducive  to  only  one  result,  an  utter  col- 
lapse of  the  entire  school.  Instead  of  becom- 
ing a  fructifying  agent  in  the  development 
of  art,  it  was  acting  as  a  check,  which  had 
to  be  flung  aside  before  the  steady  march 
could  proceed  To-day  we  stand  before  the 
creations  of  Overbeck,  Veit  and  Schadow 
with  a  feeling  of  pity.  Men  of  talent  they 
undoubtedly  were;  but  what  they  claimed 
for  themselves  and  what  has  been  claimed 
for  them,  they  never    could  be,   leaders  in 


of  earnest  and  sincere  young  men,  we  find 
little  to  commend  in  their  most  ambitious 
work;  and  one  cannot  help  but  speculate 
what  might  have  been  the  result,  if  they  had 
not  insisted  so  resolutely  upon  shutting 
themselves  out  from  the  influence  of  con- 
temporary foreign  art,  which  was  in  the 
meantime  enjoying  a  much  healthier  devel- 
opment. It  is  true,  conditions  in  the  Fath- 
erland were  not  helpful  to  the  growth  of  a 
strong  national  art  spirit;  and  every  patriot 
despised  the   neighbors    beyond  the  Rhine, 


ENTRY    OF    CHRIST    INTO    JKKrSAI.K.M.       OVKRIil'.CK. 


the  realm  of  art.  For,  however  great  the 
popularity  of  their  paintings  became,  by 
means  of  engraved  and  lithographed  repro- 
ductions, they  can  probably  best  be  com- 
pared to  long,  tiresome  sermons.  Such  is 
Overbecks  painting  in  St.  Mary's  church  at 
Liibeck,  The  Entry  of  Christ  into  Jeru- 
salem, for  instance,  and  this  belongs  among 
his  best  efforts.  Viewed  from  the  stand- 
point of  impartial  criticism,  which  takes  no 
heed  of  the  pure  and  lofty  motives  which 
unquestionably  inspired  this  singular  group 


and   would  have   none   of  their  advice  and 
example. 

Rome  offered  a  quiet  refuge  in  which  the 
war-haunted  muse  found  rest,  and  inspira- 
tion could  be  drawn  from  the  works  of  the 
greatest  of  painters.  But  it  was  not  what 
the  grand  achievements  of  the  Quatrocentisti 
tell  us  to-day  that  inspired  Overbeck;  it  was 
the  spirit  of  devout  Christianity  which  he 
read  in  their  works,  and  to  become  as  great 
as  they  was  only  possible  by  reverting  to 
the  pure  and  pious  life  of  the  early  masters 


CENTURY  IN  GERMANY. 


585 


and  renouncing  all  earthly  temptations. 
This  spirit  is  ever  present  in  Overbeck's 
works.  But  in  his  fear  of  departing  from 
the  path  of  purity  he  went  so  far  as  to  shun 
a  thorough  study  of  life,  which  alone  can 
give  to  art  strength  and  vitality.  Therefore, 
in  spite  of  all  their  charm  of  purity,  his 
works  were  bound  to  be  weak  and  primi- 
tive. And  this  characterizes  the  work  of 
the  entire  school. 

There  were  those  among  them  who  recog- 
nized in  their  lifetime  the  mistake  of  posing 
as  painters.  But  in  their  youth  their  am- 
bition was  to  create  anew  the  grand  monu- 
mental art  of  fresco-painting,  though  they 
were  totally  ignorant  of  its  technical  require- 
ments— as  well  as  of  its  true  spirit.  Curi- 
ously enough,  their  first  effort  in  this 
respect  remains  to  this  day  their  most  satis- 
factory achievement  in  painting. 

The  Prussian  Consul  Bartholdi  was  the 
first  to  give  our  )'oung  artists  an  opportunity 
to  put  their  ideas  of  monumental  art  into 
practice,  and  in  his  house  they  executed,  in 
fresco-technique,  a  series  of  paintings,  which 
are  the  forerunners  of  all  those  later  mural 
paintings  in  the  halls,  palaces,  museums 
and  churches  in  Germany,  which  Cornelius 
and  his  followers  were  called  upon  to  pro- 
duce and  which,  until  recently,  were,  in  Ger- 
manj'  at  least,  considered  to  mark  the  highest 
achievements  in  nineteenth  century  art. 
Cornelius  was  hailed  as  the  German  Michel- 
angelo, Overbeck  as  the  Raphael  of  the  age. 
If,  in  the  calmer  judgment  of  to-day,  we  are 
disposed  to  brush  aside  such  exaggerated 
eulogy  with  little  or  no  hesitation,  the  his- 
torian must  not  forget  that  since  the  days  of 
Diirer  and  Holbein,  German  art  had  pro- 
duced nothing  of  any  commanding  impor- 
tance, that  the  art  of  the  Classicists  had 
failed  to  make  that  lasting  impression  its 
sponsors  had  bespoken  for  it,  and  that  here 
was  an  art  which  appealed  mightily  to  the 
intelligence  of  the  educated  classes,  which 
in  Germany  comjjrised  vast  numbers.  "The 
nation  of  thinkers"  would  naturally  produce 
and  cherish  a  race  of  artists  excelling  in 
intellectual  qualities,  however  devoid  they 
might  be  of  the  sensuous  and  the  emotional. 
The  art  of  painting,  let  us  remember,  was 
then  a  lost  art,  color  was  only  resorted  to 


"under  protest."  The  "grand  idea"  was 
the  thing  for  the  artist  to  express,  and  he 
would  have  cheerfully  confined  himself  to 
the  use  of  mere  black  and  white,  did  not 
the  very  purpose  of  their  works:  to  serve 
as  decorations,  call  for  the  use  of  colors. 
An  entirely  new  techni(iue  had  to  be 
acquired,  and  they  learned  from  an  old  Ital- 
ian the  method  of  painting  on  the  wet  plas- 
ter upon  the  wall.  We  are  told  that  it  was 
Philip  Veit  (1793-1877)  who  made  the  first 
experimental  brush  strokes,  painting  a  head 
in  the  new  techniciuc.  \'eit  was  the  most 
devoted  friend  of  Overbeck  and  in  spirit 
stood  nearest  to  his  art,  as  he  also  emulated 
his  example  in  adopting  the  Catholic  reli- 
gion. The  frescoes  in  the  Casa  Bartholdi 
illustrate  the  History  of  Joseph  in  Egypt, 
of  which  Veit  painted  Joseph  and  Potiphar's 
Wife,  and  the  Allegory  of  the  Seven  Fruitful 
Years.  Called  to  Frankfort  as  director  ot 
the  newly  established  "Staedel'sche  Insti- 
tut"  in  1833  Veit  there  painted  his  most 
important  picture:  The  Introduction  of 
Christianity  into  (Germany  by  St.  Boniface. 
Early  in  the  forties  he  began  to  feel  out  of 
sympathy  with  the  course  art  began  to  lead, 
and  he  resigned  his  position,  retiring  from 
the  field  of  activity  as  director  of  the  gallery 
of  Mainz. 


c 


ORNELIUS     TO     KAULBACH. 
(4) 


The  ablest  of  the  group,  and  the 
one  whose  fame  was  to  eclipse 
that  of  all  his  contemporaries,  was  Peter  v. 
Cornelius  (1783-186 7).  Broader  in  his  con- 
ception of  the  province  of  art  than  his  con- 
freres, and  more  firmly  grounded  in  its 
technical  requirements,  which  did  not  in- 
clude, as  we  have  already  learned,  any  pro- 
found knowledge  of  color,  he  had  come  to 
Rome  from  Diisseldorf,  where  he  had  already 
achieved  some  distinction  by  his  illustrations 
of  Goethe  and  of  "The  Nibelungen-Lied." 
Of  the  frescoes  in  the  Casa  Bartholdi,  the 
Recognition  of  Joseph  by  his  Brethren, 
came  from  his  hands.  He  also  designed  a 
part  of  the  decorations  for  the  house  of  the 
Marchese  Massimi,  but  had  no  share  in  their 


586 


PAINTING  OF  THE  NINETEENTH 


execution,  having  been  summoned  to  Diis- 
seldorf  in  1820  as  director  of  the  Academy, 
and  receiving  commissions  from  King  Lud- 
wig  I.  of  Bavaria  for  more  important  work. 
As  crown  prince,  Liidwig  had  become 
acquainted  with  our  artists  in  Rome,  and 
enlisted  their  interest  in  his  grand  scheme 
for  the  beautifying  of  Munich,  which  he 
desired  to  make  one  of  the  most  attractive 
and  important  cities  of  Germany.  The 
work  planned  for  Cornelius  at  Munich  as- 
sumed such  magnitude  that  he  could  not 
retain  his  position  at  Diisseldorf,  but  accepted 
the  directorship  at  the  Munich  Academy  in 
1825.  His  first  great  work  was  the  deco- 
rating of  the  Glyptothek  (Museum  of  Stat- 
uary), taking  for  his  subject  the  story  of  the 
Greek  gods  for  one  of  the  main  halls,  and 
that  of  the  ancient  heroes  of  Greece  for  the 
other.  A  still  more  important  commission 
was  that  of  decorating  the  newly  erected 
Ludwigs-Kirche ;  for  which  he  chose  the 
story  of  Christian  Revelation,  beginning 
with  the  Creation  of  Man,  and  ending  with 
the  Last  Judgment.  It  is  not  only  deficient 
coloring  which  checks  our  admiration  of  this 
ambitious  attempt,  but  our  recollection  of 
the  unsurpassed  creations  of  the  mighty 
Italian  from  whom  Cornelius  drew  his  in- 
spiration. Other  works  of  Cornelius  are  the 
designs  for  the  wall-paintings  in  the  corridor 
of  the  old  Pinakothek  at  Munich,  treating 
the  history  of  Christian  Art.  Here  he  fol- 
lowed the  style  of  Raphael  in  the  use  of  ara- 
besques, again  remaining  far  behind  his 
prototype  in  richness  and  originality  of  de- 
sign. In  1841,  Cornelius  was  called  to  Ber- 
lin by  the  King  of  Prussia  to  decorate  the 
Royal  Museum  and  the  Campo  Santo,  which 
never  proceeded  any  further  than  the  de- 
signs, of  which  that  representing  the  Four 
Riders .  of  the  Apokalypse  is  termed  his 
masterpiece. 

Wilhelm  Schadovt'  (1789-1862),  who  had 
come  to  Rome  in  1810,  like  Overbeck  also 
became  a  convert  to  Catholicism.  At  the 
Casa  Bartholdi  he  painted  Jacob  with 
Joseph's  Bloody  Shirt,  and  Joseph  in  Prison. 
His  designs  for  the  Villa  Massimi  were  not 
executed  in  fresco  by  himself,  since  he 
accepted  an  appointment  as  professor  of 
painting  at   the    Berlin   Academy  in    1819. 


Seven  years  later  he  was  made  director  of 
the  Academy  at  Diisseldorf,  many  of  his 
best  pupils  following  him  thither.  He 
forthwith  infused  new  life  into  the  art  of  the 
city,  and  continued  in  his  influential  position 
until  1859  when  he  resigned.  His  art  re- 
mained true  to  the  spirit  of  the  "Nazarenes," 
as  this  group  of  artists  came  to  be  termed, 
and  knew  no  progress,  though  his  abilities  as 
a  teacher  cannot  be  disputed,  and  he  lifted 
Diisseldorf  to  a  school  of  the  first  rank  in 
Germany.  He  also  contributed  largely 
towards  the  popularizing  of  art,  by  the 
foundation,  in  1829,  of  the  Art  Union  of 
Westphalia. 

In  1826  Joseph  Fiihrich  (1800-1876),  joined 
the  brotherhood  at  St.  Isidor.  Fiihrich  had 
commenced  his  career  as  a  draughtsman, 
finding  his  ideal  in  Albrecht  Dtirer  and 
drawing  inspiration  from  the  middle  ages. 
At  Rome,  he  entered  into  the  spirit  of  the 
Nazarenes,  and  assisted  in  the  completion  of 
the  work  left  unfinished  by  Overbeck  and 
Cornelius  at  the  Villa  Massimi.  Called  to 
Vienna  in  1841,  as  professor  at  the  Art  Aca- 
demy, he  became  the  leader  of  the  Romantic 


JACOB  A.MJ  RACHEL.   FUHRICH. 

School  in  Austria.  What  mostly  distinguishes 
Fuhrich  from  the  rest  of  the  group  is  his 
more  intimate  knowledge  of  nature;  his 
early  observation  of  animals  enables  him  to 
treat  them  in  his  pictures  with  greater 
truthfulness,  and  his  creations  are  the  out- 
come of  a  refined  feeling  for  the  idyllic. 
While  during  his    Roman   period  he  seems 


CENTURY  /JV  GERMANY. 


587 


almost  entirely  under  the  spell  of  Overbeck, 
he  returns,  in  his  advanced  years,  to  the  nat- 
ural feeling  of  his  youth.  In  such  works  as 
his  illustrations  of  the  Legend  of  St.  Gwen- 
dolen, his  loving  treatment  of  nature  readily 
appeals  to  our  admiration. 

The  only  one  of  the  Romanticists  who  maj' 
be  said  to  have  achieved  any  distinction  as  a 
colorist  was  Johann  Eduard  Steinle  (1810- 
1886),  of  \'ienna,  who  joined  the  Nazarenes 
in  1828,  and  in  his  church  frescoes  stands 
entirely  on  the  same  ground  with  them.  He 
becomes  far  more  interesting  to  us  in  his 
easel  pictures,  where  he  chooses  his  subjects 
from  folk-lore,  as,  for  instance,  in  his  Lore- 
ley,  and  in  such  pictures  as  his  \'iolin 
Player  in  the  Tower,  in  which  his 
Romanticism  is  rooted  in  the  native 
soil  and  partakes  of  a  poetic  feeling 
which  is  thoroughly  in  sympath)' 
with  the  spirit  of  his  age  and  not 
entirel}'  strange  to  our  own.  He 
went  from  Rome  to  Vienna  in  1833, 
and  to  Frankfort  in  1837,  then  to 
Munich,  where  he  worked  for  some 
time  under  Cornelius,  and  finally 
settled  in  Frankfort,  where  he  be- 
came professor  at  the  Staedel'sche 
Institut  in  1850. 

Julius  Schnorr  v.  Carolsfeld  (1794- 
1872),  who  had  joined  the  Nazarenes 
about  1818  assisted  in  the  decora- 
tion of  the  Villa  Masimi,  after  which 
he  went  to  Vienna,  and,  subse- 
quently, in  1827,  accepted  the  posi- 
tion of  professor  of  historical  paint- 
ing at  the  Munich  Academy.  During  this 
period  he  decorated  a  number  of  large  and 
smaller  halls  in  the  Royal  Palace  with  fres- 
coes, taking  his  subjects  from  the  Nibelung- 
en-Lied  for  the  latter,  while  the  larger  halls 
were  decorated  with  scenes  from  the  lives  of 
the  Emperors  Charlemagne,  Barbarossa  and 
Rudolph  of  Hapsburg.  But  his  fame  does 
not  rest  on  these  ambitious  works  of  monu- 
mental painting.  Removing  to  Dresden 
about  1846,  where  he  accepted  the  ofhces  of 
director  of  the  Gallery  and  professor  at  the 
Academy,  he  devoted  himself  to  a  series  of 
illustrations  of  the  Bible,  which  were  repro- 
duced in  woodcuts, and  which  rank  among  the 
foremost  productions  of  the  art  of  this  period. 


Wilhelm  von  Kaulbach  (1805-1874),  was 
the  son  of  an  engraver.  He  received  his 
early  training  at  the  Art  Academy  of  Diissel- 
dorf  under  Corelius,  whose  most  valued 
assistant  he  ultimately  became  in  the  execu- 
tion of  his  grand  mural  paintings  at  Munich, 
where  he  hade  his  permanent  abode  and 
became  the  most  distinguished  artist  of  his 
time.  Kaulbach's  artistic  career  has  closed 
a  quarter  of  a  century  ago;  and  though  the 
present  generation  has  witnessed  the  execu- 
tion of  his  later  works,  it  is  no  longer  diffi- 
cult to  form  ■an  impartial  judgment  of  his 
great  imp6rtance  and  of  his  limitations. 
Kaulbach's  art,  like  that  of  Cornelius  rep- 


resents, above  all,  a  vast  amount  of  painted 
learning,  of  scholarly  accomplishment.  As 
with  him,  the  chief  value  of  the  work  lies  in 
its  intellectural  contents,  in  the  learned  ex- 
pression of  the  idea.  While  he,  also,  is  still 
thoroughly  at  home  in  bliick  and  white,  he 
has  learned  to  apply  color  with  greater  skill 
and  does  no  longer  consider  the  brush  as 
the  ruination  of  art.  Kaulbach  first  drew 
wider  attention  to  himself  by  a  drawing, 
representing  a  scene  in  a  madhouse.  It 
showed  him  to  be  a  man  of  keen  power  of 
observation;  nor  was  it  difficult  to  detect 
therein  also  a  satirical  vein,  which  he  later 
developed  with  such  telling  effect  in  his 
illustrations  to  Goethe's  version  of  "Reynard 


588 


PAINTING  OF  THE  NINETEENTH 


the  Fox,"  and  which  also  finds  full  play  in 
his  designs  for  the  exterior  decorations  of 
the  New  Pinakothek,  representing  the  fierce 
onslaught  of  modern  ideas  on  drj'  artistic 
cant.  The  King  of  Prussia  commissioned 
Kaulbach  to  execute  a  number  of  large 
mural  paintings  in  the  stairway  of  the  Art 
Museum  at  Berlin,  and  this  resulted  in  the 
frescoes,  Dispersion  of  the  Nations  at  Babel, 
Classic  Age  of  Greece,  Destruction  of  Jeru- 
salem, Battle  of  the  Huns,  Crusaders,  and 
Age  of  the  Reformation. 

In  a  similar  spirit,  a  strange  mixture  of 
philosophical  thought,  allegorical  conception 
and  pseudo-realistic  representation,  he  has 
also  painted  the  Naval  Battle  of  Salamis,  in 
the  Maximilianeum  at  Munich.  Famous 
among  his  huge  cartoons  are  his  Nero  and 
his  Peter  Arbuez,  in  which  latter  he  has 
depicted,  though  in  a  rather  strained  the- 
atrical manner,  the  horrors  of  the  Spanish 
Inquisition.  Kaulbach 's  later  art  was 
largely  polemical  in  nature,  and  he  was  as 
much  feared  and  hated  by  those  whose  faith 
and  doctrines  he  attacked  so  mercilessly,  as 
he  was  applauded  by  his  sympathetic  friends. 
He  is  far  less  impressive,  indeed,  it  is  hardly 
too  much  to  say,  that  he  is  rather  weak,  in 
his  illustrations  of  Goethe's  and  of  Shakes- 
peare's works,  drawn,  like  his  large  car- 
toons, in  charcoal  and  black  crayon.  His 
last  finished  work  was  a  drawing,  which  he 
dedicated  to  the  victorious  German  army, 
representing  the  Deutsche  Michel  in  the 
form  of  the  archangel  Michael  slaying  the 
representatives  of  political  and  religious 
intolerance,  the  Pope  and  the  French  Em- 
peror conspicuous  among  them. 

The  strongest  artist  among  the  followers 
of  Cornelius  marks  also  the  end  of  that 
epoch  of  which  so  much  had  been  expected 
and  so  little  of  lasting  value  has  been 
derived,  excepting  that  interest  in  the  fine 
arts  as  such  had  received  a  vigorous  promo- 
tion, and  henceforth  continued  in  growing 
favor,  being  recognized  by  the  governments 
of  the  larger  and  smaller  states  and  princi- 
palities as  of  the  most  vital  importance,  and 
resulting  ultimately  in  a  most  vigorous  and 
healthy  development  of  German  art  at  the 
end  of  the  century. 

That  such  government  protection  was  not 


alwaj's  the  most  desirable,  must  be  con- 
ceded. But  in  Munich  at  least  it  did  not 
only  not  interfere  seriously  with  the  steady 
march  of  progress,  but,  as  practiced  by  the 
present  Prince  Regent  Luitpold,  gives 
every  aid  to  a  free  and  unfettered  growth  of 
a  true  and  healthy  art  sentiment. 

Doctor  Mather's  estimate  of  both  Cor- 
nelius and  Kaulbach  will  probably  always 
be  considered  too  severe.  Still  he  comes 
nearer  than  any  preceeding  art  historian  to  a 
true  estimation  of  their  importance,  or  want 
of  importance,  as  factors  in  the  evolution  of 
nineteenth  century  art  in  Germany.  At 
best  their  influence  can  be  considered  only  a 
negative  one ;  and  there  is  very  good  reason 
to  suspect  that  Kaulbach  himself  was  well 
aware  of  this  fact,  for  the  biting  sarcasm,  in 
which  he  indulges  at  the  expense  of  some  of 
his  contemporaries  would  seem  to  fit  his 
own  case  no  less. 

Some  years  before  his  death,  art  in  Munich 
had  already  turned  away  from  the  path  that 
had  led  Kaulbach  to  the  summit  of  his  fame. 
To  his  great  credit  must  it  be  said  that  he 
had  long  read  the  signs  pointing  to  a  new 
direction,  and,  though  he  retained,  nom- 
inally, the  position  at  the  head  of  the  Acad- 
emy, he  had  cheerfully  abdicated  his 
privilege  of  directing  the  further  course  of 
art  study,  which  now  passed  on  to  Carl 
Piloty. 


LANDSCAPE  PAINTING.  (5) 
But  before  we  consider  this  new 
era  in  German  art,  we  must  retrace 
our  steps  to  the  earlier  part  of  the 
century,  and  beyond,  to  see  what  other 
forces  were  at  work  in  the  realm  of  art  to 
account  for  the  growth  of  a  healthy  and  nat- 
ural spirit,  which  was  ultimately  to  over- 
power the  exotic  plant  which  had  so  long 
posed  in  the  form  of  a  new  national  art. 
For,  it  must  not  be  supposed  that  art  had 
for  her  legitimate  representatives  only  such 
men  as  we  have  been  considering.  The 
little  brotherhood  at  the  cloister  of  Isidoro 
was  not  allowed  to  work  out  its  theories 
unopposed,  and  the  title,  "the  Nazarenes" 
by  which  they  have,  collectively,  come  to  be 


CENTURY  IN  GERMANY. 


589 


designated  in  art  history,  was  bestowed  upon 
them  in  ridicule  at  the  time.  Their  mistake 
of  throwing  overboard  all  tradition,  their 
failure  to  recognize  the  elements  of  truth 
and  beauty  that  had  still  pertained  to  the 
art  of  the  Rococo,  obscured  and  distorted 
though  it  was  by  the  later  weaklings,  and 
allowed  to  dwindle  by  the  Classicists,  their 
deliberate  refusal  to  recognize  contempor- 
aneous life  as  a  fit  subject  for  artistic  treat- 
ment, and  their  consequent  flight  into  the 
past  for  inspiration  and  example,  their  timid 
attempts  at  the  study  of  nature — all  this  was 
sharply  criticized  and  diligently  avoided 
by  others,  who,  alas!  lacked  only  the  full 
measure  of  natural  gifts,  and  of  opportun- 
ity, to  exert  a  commanding  influence  upon 
the  course  of  art  development. 

We  have  already  heard  Rungc's  voice;  he 
speaks  of  "the  new  art  of  landscape-paint- 
ing," for  which  he  claims  an  interview. 
Landscape  painting  had  been  brought  to  a 
remarkable  state  of  advancement  in  the 
previous  century.  In  England  it  was  Gains- 
borough, Constable  and  Turner  that  had 
given  to  mere  landscape  an  importance  even 
beyond  that  which  it  had  occupied  in  Hol- 
land at  the  time  of  Ruysdael;  and  this  had 
exerted  a  healthy  influence  on  the  other  side 
of  the  Channel.  At  the  beginning  of  the 
nineteenth  century  it  still  remained  some- 
what under  the  shade  of  classicism  in  Ger- 
many, still  striving  to  represent  only  the 
heroic,  but,  at  all  events,  really  looking  to 
nature  for  its  forms  and  color,  even  tliough 
with  a  preconceived  idea  of  grandeur  and 
impressiveness. 

We  find  in  Joseph  Koch  (i  768-1839),  the 
first  representative  of  "heroic  landscape" 
painting,  though  he,  too,  commands  our 
attention,  more  by  virtue  of  his  etchings 
than  as  a  painter.  His  pictures  are  com- 
posed of  the  material  which  the  Sabine 
Mountains  otfcred  to  his  imagination,  and 
the  landscape  is  made  to  serve  rather  as  a 
setting  to  classical  or  biblical  figure  compo- 
sitions, such  as  the  Rape  of  Hylas  and  the 
Sacrifice  of  Noah. 

Karl  Rottmann  (i  798-1850),  is  ranked  high 
above  Koch  by  earlier  art  historians  as  well 
as  by  his  contemporaries.  But  it  is  impos- 
sible, at  this  day,  to  join  in  the  loud  applause 


which  greeted  his  series  of  Italian  land- 
scapes painted  on  the  walls  of  the  Hofgarten 
Arcades  at  Munich,  or  his  later  series  of 
Greek  landscapes,  in  a  special  hall  of  the 
Pinakothek;  the  former  have  faded,  while 
the  latter,  by  their  ghiring  color,  make  one 
overlook  even  the  merit  they  claimed  in 
their  time  for  "grandeur"  of  conception. 
In  some  of  his  smaller  studies  and  in  his 
watercolors,  Rottmann  attains  a  certain 
charm  of  color  which  we  look  for  in  vain  in 
his  so-called  important  paintings. 

The  one  man  who  succeeded  in  lending  to 
the  "heroic  landscape"  an  unmistakable 
dignity  and  true  impressiveness  was  Fried- 
rich  Preller  (1804-187S).  In  1830,  while  at 
Naples,  he  conceived  the  idea  of  embodying 
tlie  story  of  Odysseus  in  a  series  of  compo- 
sitions and  this  subject  occupied  him  more 
or  less  all  his  life.  The  original  cartoons 
led  to  a  commission  to  decorate  the  house 
of  Dr.  Hiirtel  at  Leipzig.  This  finished,  he 
betook  himself  to  the  isle  of  Riigen  and  to 
Norwa}',  where  he  made  numerous  studies 
from  nature.  Thus  equipped,  he  again 
turned  his  attention  to  his  earlier  choice, 
and  added  new  compositions  to  the  Odyssey, 
the  entire  series  being  finally  painted  for  the 
Art  Museum  at  Weimar.  In  these  compo- 
sitions the  figures  are  treated  with  far  more 
knowledge  and  care  than  had  been  the  cus- 
tom with  landscape  painters  until  then,  and 
Preller  evinces  a  loving  study  of  nature, 
with  a  far  less  violent  disposition  to  "im- 
prove" on  his  model. 

Color  becomes  more  and  more  the  aim  of 
the  Romantic  landscape  painters,  and  the 
scenes  with  classic  monuments  give  way  to 
the  landsca])es  with  ruins  of  medieval 
castles,  while  the  figures  of  knights,  monks, 
nuns,  and  robbers,  take  the  place  of  classic 
heroes. 

In  Diisseldorf,  where  Wilhelm  Schadow 
had  succeeded  Cornelius  as  director  of  the 
Academy,  a  school  of  painting  had  sprung 
into  existence,  and  the  students  there  de- 
voted themselves  with  equal  ardor  to  figure 
and  landscape  studies.  Carl  Friedrich 
Lessing  (1808-1880),  grand-nephew  of  the 
famous  author,  having  first  studied  at  Ber- 
lin, was  drawn  to  Diisseldorf  where  he  com. 
pleted   his  studies  under   Schadow.     While 


59° 


PAINTING  OF  THE  NINETEENTH 


he  achieved  great  renown  as  a  figure  painter, 
chiefly  through  a  number  of  large  canvases 
relating  to  the  life  of  Johannes  Huss,  we  are 
more  particularly  interested  in  him  as  a 
landscapist,  inasmuch  as  it  was  he  who  first 
turned  from  the  conventionally  composed 
landscape  of  the  Romanticists  to  the  paint- 
ing of  nature  itself.  His  first  efforts  were 
of  the  regulation  order:  a  lonely  churchyard, 
under  a  dull,  heavy  sky,  with  a  narrow 
streak  of  sunlight  falling  on  a  gravestone; 
and    similar    somber,    romantic,    subjects. 


MOUNTAIN    ROAD.       ACHKN'BACH. 


But  when  he  came  to  a  certain  part  of  the 
Prussian  Rhein  province  known  as  "Eifel," 
he  discovered  a  piece  of  nature  which  ap- 
pealed to  his  artistic  sensibilities  in  the  most 
powerful  manner.  Henceforth  he  dispenses 
with  all  the  knights  and  monks  and  robbers 
that  had  been  considered  so  essential  to 
lending  landscape  the  picture-making  qual- 
ity. He  finds  in  nature  alone  the  quality  of 
the  romantic,  to  render  which  remains  his 
purpose,  it  is  true;  but  he  lifts  landscape 
painting  to  the  dignity  of  an  independent 
art,  which  it  had  not  enjoyed  before. 


Karl  Blechen  goes  a  step  further  in  the 
emancipation  from  Romantic  tradition,  and 
does  not  hesitate  to  include  in  his  choice 
of  scene  such  evidences  of  man's  modern 
activity  as  smoking  factory  chimneys,  etc. 

A  further  impulse  in  the  direction  of  a 
still  closer  study  of  nature  in  Germany  came 
from  Denmark.  It  was  at  the  Art  Academy 
at  Copenhagen  that  J.  C.  C.  Dahl  (1788- 
1857),  a  Norwegian  artist,  took  up  the  study 
of  landscape  painting  and  was  impressed  by 
the  works  of  the  great  Dutchmen  of  the  sev- 
enteenth century,  Ruysdael  and  Everdingen. 
His  works,  when  first  exhibited  in  Ger- 
many, created  a  great  commotion  among 
artists,  on  account  of  their  startling  realism. 
In  1 81 9  Dahl  was  made  professor  at  the 
Dresden  Academy.  About  the  same  time 
Christian  Morgenstern  (1805-1867),  who  had 
also  pursued  his  studies  at  the  Danish 
capital,  and  traveled  in  Norway,  came  to 
Munich,  where  his  advent  proved  of  great- 
est importance  to  landscape  art.  His  predi- 
lection was  rather  for  the  quiet  moorland 
plain,  the  village  road  and  the  lake,  and  his 
color,  like  that  of  Dahl,  was  still  reminiscent 
of  the  great  Dutchmen. 

It  was  Ludwig  Qurlitt  (181 2-),  from 
Altona,  who  first  adopted  a  fine  gray  tone 
in  his  landscapes.  He  too  had  studied  at 
Copenhagen  and  traveled  in  Scandinavia 
before  he  went  to  Diisseldorf  and  Munich, 
afterwards  to  Italy.  What  Dahl,  Morgen- 
stern and  Giirlitt  did  for  landscape  art  in 
Germany  proved  of  lasting  effect,  as  they 
may  be  said  to  have  first  introduced  realism. 
Gurlitt's  advice  and  example  had  its  most 
telling  effect  on  Andreas  Achenbach  (born 
18 1 5  at  Cassel),  who  was  then  studying  at 
Diisseldorf,  like  the  rest,  composing  his  land- 
scapes according  to  approved  rules.  Gurlitt 
induced  him  to  go  to  Norway,  and  there  the 
gifted  young  man  learned  to  develop  his  keen 
observation  of  nature,  discarding  the  learned, 
artificial  methods  of  his  earlier  studies. 
Though  he  has  long  been  left  behind  by  the 
younger  generation,  Achenbach  must  always 
be  considered  a  pathfinder  among  artists; 
and,  by  his  paintings  of  the  raging  sea,  the 
turbulent  waterfall,  the  quiet  Dutch  canal, 
and  the  red-roofed  village,  he  succeeded  in 
holding  the  attention  of  the  public  by  pure 


CENTURY  IN  GERMANY. 


591 


landscape  painting  as  no  one  had  done  be- 
fore. If  any  one,  it  was  Achenbach  who 
gained  for  this  branch  of  art  the  command- 
ing position  b}'  the  side  of  figure  painting 
which  it  has  ever  since  held. 

Landscape  painters  continued  largely  to 
be  attracted  by  the  splendors  of  distant 
lands,  in  preference  to  the  milder  charms  of 
their  own  country.  Thus  Oswald  Achen- 
bach (1827-)  younger  brother  of  Andreas, 
developed  an  early  fondness  for  the  sunny 
South,  and  chose  the  surroundings  of  Naples 
for  his  favorite  sketching  ground.  Abandon- 
ing the  "grand  "style  of  the  composed  land- 
scape of  the  earlier  period,  he  became  a 
closer  student  of  nature  and  truth. 

Eduard  Hildebrand  (181 7-1868)  extended 
his  artistic  explorations  to  all  quarters  of 
the  globe,  showing  a  special  fondness  for 
vivid  color  effects,  recorded  mainly  in  water 
colors,  which  became  very  popular  through 
reproductions. 

Among  the  many  other  exploring  artists 
Eugen  Bracht  (1842-),  deserves  especial 
mention.  His  earlier  successes  were  the 
result  of  his  travels  in  the  Orient,  where  he 
appears  to  have  been  attracted  mainly  by 
the  somber  character  of  the  desert  and  the 
mountains.  In  recent  years  he  has  turned 
his  attention  to  the  landscape  of  his  native 
country,  in  which  he  has  discovered  all  those 
elements  of  color  and  moods  which  he  had 
missed  in  the  pictures  of  his  earlier  period. 

The  painting  of  the  moods  of  nature — so 
comprehensively  expressed  by  the  German 
term  "Stimmungslandschaft"  — introduced 
to  Munich  by  Morgenstern,  found  in 

Eduard  Schleich  (1812-1874),  its  most 
gifted  representative.  He  succeeded  in 
penetrating  deeper  into  the  life  of  nature, 
studying  her  changing  moods  :  the  cheerful 
sunlight,  the  threatening  storm,  the  passing 
cloud  effects,  the  glittering  moonlight.  For 
his  motif  he  rarely  went  outside  of  the  im- 
mediate surroundings  of  Munich:  the  valley 
of  the  Isaar,  or  the  moorland  near  Dachau, 
where  he  had  the  fullest  opportunity  of 
observing  the  ever-changing  light  effects  on 
the  country  below.  No  one  before  him  had 
so  well  succeeded  in  rendering  the  trans- 
parent light  of  the  sky,  and  its  soft  fleeting 
clouds. 


It  would  seem  but  natural  that  landscape 
painting  should  at  once  lead  to  a  closer  study 
of  animal  life;  for,  as  painters  gradually 
learned  to  dispense  with  the  use  of  the 
knights,  monks  and  robbers  of  the  Roman- 
tic period,  they  were  satisfied  to  introduce 
the  forms  of  domestic  animals  as  they  ap- 
peared in  the  landscape  before  them.  Nor 
did  they  all  stop  at  treating  animals  as  mere 
accessories;  animal  ])ainting  became  a  study 
of  its  own  and  was  destined  to  reach  its 
highest  development  in  Germany  at  the 
end  of  the  century.  But  not  only  domestic 
animals  engaged  our  artists'  early  attention; 
the  wild  beasts  of  the  forest,  of  the  jungles, 
of  the  mountains,  were  painted  with  equal 
fidelity  to  nature. 

Thus  we  learn  that  the  art  of  painting  had 
been  brought  into  life  again,  largely  through 
the  serious  and  conscientious  efforts  of  the 
landscapists,  from  the  classic,  through  the 
various  stages  of  the  romantic  school  to 
the  beginnings  of  the  realistic  epoch. 
There  was,  however,  yet  another  group  of 
artists,  ignored,  if  not  suppressed,  by  the 
representatives  of  "the  gfrand  style,"  who 
kept  the  spirit  of  true  art  alive,  nourishing 
it  in  a  loving,  though  mayliap  at  times, 
somewhat  clumsy  way,  until  it  gradually 
regained  its  wonted  strength  and  filled  the 
end  of  the  century  with  rejoicing.  We  have 
seen  the  artists  fly  from  their  surrounding, 
because  in  its  unpicturesque  aspect  they 
found  it  chilling  and  forbidding.  Since 
they  could  not  paint,  it  is  not  to  be  won- 
dered at  that  they  found  nothing  to  paint 
around  them.  Their  training  taujjht  them 
to  look  for  the  ideal,  not  the  real  life  surg- 
ing around  them,  which  was  commonplace, 
prosaic.  And  we  should  not  know  to-day 
that  this  commonplace,  prosaic  life  had  its 
charms,  despite  its  "unpaintable"  costume 
and  its  narrow  horizon,  were  it  not  for  the 
records  preserved  by  a  number  of  gifted 
artists  who  cared  not  to  follow  in  the  lofty 
flight  of  their  more  distinguished  brethren. 
They  remained  at  home,  among  the  peo- 
ple, and,  with  pencil  and  graver,  held 
fast  the  fleeting  phases  of  their  surround- 
ing life,  though  it  was  not  granted  them 
to  do  so  successfully  with  brush  and  pig- 
ment. 


592 


PAINTING  OF  THE  NINETEENTH 


T 


HE   ILLUSTRATORS  AND  BAT- 
TLE PAINTERS.  (6) 


It  was  Daniel  Chodowiecki  (1726- 
1801),  who  thus  preserved  for 
future  generations  a  true  picture  of  the 
costumes  and  customs  prevailing  at  the  end 
of  the  eighteenth  century,  and  his  example 
was  followed  by  a  number  of  draughtsman, 
among  whom  the  two  Niirembergers  J.  A. 
Klein  (1792-1875)  and  J.  C.  Erhard  (1795- 
1822)  take  foremost  rank.  In  their  draw- 
ings and  copper-plate  engravings  they  give 
us  a  faithful  picture  of  the  life  of  their 
times;  the  occupations  of  the  people,  the 
events  of  the  day,  military  life,  the  burgher 
and  the  peasant  in  his  joys  and  sorrows, 
were  all  depicted  with  a  simple,  unaffected 
truthfulness.  Many  others  followed,  among 
them  one  whose  memory  is  held  sacred  by 
every  truly  German  heart,  Ludwig  Richter 
(1803-1884).  Though  ostensibly  a  landscape 
painter  (for  as  such  he  held  a  position  of 
professor  at  Dresden),  he  will  ever  be  re- 
membered by  his  record  of  the  happy  side 
of  family  life,  of  its  joj'oiis  childhood  days, 
its  sunshine  and  laughter,  its  little  trials  and 
sorrows,  too;  all  of  which  he  has  conceived 
in  the  loving  spirit  of  a  man  whose  heart 
remained  ever  young  and  childlike,  even  in 
old  age.  If  the  sweetness  of  his  nature 
reveals  itself  somewhat  too  obtrusively  in 
the  prettiness  of  his  technique,  he  appealed 
therewith  all  the  more  successfully  to  the 
intelligence  of  his  public,  which  had  no 
appreciation  of  "high  art, "  but  could  readily 
grasp  the  truthful  reflection  of  its  own  every- 
day life,  as  Richter  pictured  it  in  his  thou- 
sands of  drawings. 

He  found  imitators,  of  course;  but  was 
without  a  successful  rival.  The  only  one 
who  does  not  lose  by  comparison  was  Albert 
Hendschel  (1834  -  1883),  whose  "Sketch 
Book"  treats  of  the  joys  and  sorrows  of 
boyhood  and  girlhood  in  a  delightfully 
humorous  manner. 

The  revolution  of  1848  infused  a  vigorous 
life  into  the  art  of  the  caricaturist.  In  Ber- 
lin the  "Kladderadatsch"  was  published, 
and  in  Munich  appeared  the  "Miinchener 
Bilderbogen"  and  "Fliegende  Blatter." 
While  the  Berlin  publication  has  chosen  the 


field  of  politics,  the  "Fliegende  Blatter"  de- 
voted themselves  to  chastising  the  follies 
and  weaknesses  of  social  life  and  conditions, 
and  to  healthy  but  harmless  humor.  The 
drawings  by  Moritz  v.  Schwind,  Carl  Spitz- 
weg  and  others,  have  left  us  a  picture  of  the 
life  and  manners  of  the  time,  more  complete 
and  true  than  has  come  down  to  us  through 
any  other  source. 

Wilhelm  Busch  (1832-)  and  Adolph  Ober- 
lander  (1845-),  are  the  two  caricatur- 
ists who  stand  unrivaled  by  any  age  or 
any  country.  The  drawings  of  Busch  are 
simplicity  itself,  but  nothing  could  be  more 
expressive  than  the  few  lines  and  spots 
which  he  employs  to  convey  a  characteristic 
action,  illustrating  his  quaint  rhyme. 
Oberlander's  is  an  entirely  different  humor. 
He  is  at  home  in  every  society,  in  every 
clime;  he  knows  the  nature  of  every  crea- 
ture in  the  animal  kingdom,  fish,  fowl,  wild 
beast  and  domestic  cattle,  and  he  can  make 
them  expressive  of  any  emotion.  Busch 
and  Oberliinder  are  classics  in  their  field. 

While  the  draughtsmen  were  the  first 
truthfully  to  picture  the  life  of  their  times, 
the  painters  found  in  the  prevailing  costume 
a  stumbling-block,  which  they  felt  powerless 
to  remove.  But  a  way  around  was  even- 
tually discovered.  These  were  troublous 
times;  the  Napoleonic  wars  were  keeping 
the  country  in  a  feverish  condition,  there 
was  no  assurance  of  a  peaceful  life  at  any 
moment,  in  any  hamlet.  Soldiers  kept  com- 
ing and  going,  now  friends,  now  foes;  along 
the  most  traveled  paths  there  was  an  ever- 
changing  panorama,  grim  in  nature,  but 
picturesque  withal ;  and  there  were  painters 
not  slow  to  improve  their  opportunity. 
The  uniform  fairly  arrested  the  artists'  long- 
ing for  some  paintable  costume,  and  though 
the  men  who  felt  inspired  to  put  upon  can- 
vass the  scenes  they  beheld  were  not  great 
artists,  they  have  contributed  a  far  greater 
share  towards  keeping  alive  a  healthy  art 
sentiment,  than  the  over-praised  masters 
who  looked  down  upon  them  with  either 
pity  or  contempt. 

In  1800  there  lived  in  Nordlingen  a  con- 
fectioner's apprentice,  who  improved  every 
opportunity  to  sketch  soldiers,  and  his 
attempts    proved   so    full   of    interest    and 


CENTURY  IN  GERMANY. 


593 


promise  that  he  was  offered  an  opportunity 
some  years  later  to  accompany  the  Bavarian 
army,  fighting  for  Napoleon  against  Austria. 
This  yoimg  man  was  Albrecht  Adam  (1786- 
1862).  He  had  no  academical  training  and 
was  entirely  self-taught;  no  wonder,  there- 
fore, that  technically  his  work  remained 
somewhat  crude;  but  it  was  an  honest  and 
serious  attempt  to  render  what  he  beheld 
about  him  with  truth  to  nature  and  simple 
directness,  hampered  by  no  grand  ideals  and 
traditions.  Adam's  school  was  nature  and 
contemporaneous  life;  what  he  painted,  that 
he  had  really  seen.  He  lived  with  the 
army,  sharing  its  experience  of  victory  and 
defeat.  He  was  present  at  the  catastrophe 
of  Moscow  and  his  pictures  of  the  retreat 
were  not  imaginary,  nor  the  illustrations  of 
the  accounts  of  others,  but  a  faithful  record 
of  his  own  observations. 

Albrecht  Adam  was  not  only  the  father  of 
German  battle  painters;  he  was  the  origi- 
nator of  a  movement  which  was  to  prove  a 
g^eat  factor  in  the  art  life  of  Munich  and 
Germany — for  good  and  for  evil — for  years 
to  come,  the  establishment  of  the  Kunts- 
J'c-riiii,  the  Art  Union  of  Munich.  The 
primary  object  of  this  organization  was,  to 
bring  before  the  eyes  of  the  general  public 
the  latest  works  of  the  artists  in  a  continuous 
exhibition.  Here  the  public  was  to  be  edu- 
cated to  the  appreciation  of  art  in  the  most 
direct  manner,  without  the  intervention  of 
the  professional  art  critic;  the  public  was 
to  see  for  itself  and  form  its  own  judgment 
of  the  artists'  work.  But  it  also  brought 
another  result,  which  was  probably  not 
looked  for,  certainly  not  realized  in  its  full 
extent  and  baneful  influence :  the  artists 
learned  the  public's  pleasure,  and  fell  into 
the  habit  uf  catering  to  its  taste.  This  was 
no  small  matter;  while  Royalty  continued  to 
patronize  the  "grand  art,"  the  nobility  and 
wealthy  burghers  were  beginning  to  encour- 
age the  modest  genre  i)ainters.  And  since 
their  appreciation  could  not  possibly  apply 
to  any  strictly  artistic  merits  of  the  works, 
their  pleasure  being  only  derived  from  the 
"what"  and  not  the  "how"  of  the  artists' 
creations,  the  latter  were  naturally  induced 
to  consider  mainly  the  subject  matter  of 
their  pictures  at  the  expense  of  the  pure  art. 


In  lierlin  it  was  Franz  Kriiger  (1797-1857), 
who  ranks  as  the  foremost  battle  painter  of 
his  time.  Being  favored  by  Royalty  with 
impoitant  commissions,  he  became  chiefly 
famous  through  his  large  paintings  of  mili- 
tary parades.  From  his  paintings  we  gain 
a  true  and  life-like  picture  of  the  Berlin  of 
his  time. 

Among  the  pupils  of  Adam,  Peter  Hess 
(1792-1871),  Carl  Steffeck  (1818-1890)  and 
Theodor  Horschelt  (1829  -  1870),  achieved 
renown.  But  all  were  excelled  by  his  son 
Franz  Adam  (1815-1886),  who  ranks  among 
the  foremost  battle  painters  of  modern 
times.  He  too,  like  his  father,  had  accom- 
panied the  army  into  action,  and  in  his  pic- 
ture of  the  Battle  of  Solferino  he  created  a 
masterpiece,  which  remained  unexcelled 
until  the  war  of  1870-71.  For  some  reason, 
unknown  to  the  writer,  Adam  was  not  per- 
mitted to  accompany  the  army  to  the  front 
this  time;  nevertheless,  there  resulted  from 
his  brush  several  pictures  of  this  momentous 
war,  which  have  not  been  eclipsed  bj'  the 
work  of  eye-witnesses. 


THE  PEASANT  PAINTERS.  (7) 
Though  military  uniform  may  claim 
to  have  opened  the  eyes  of  artists 
to  the  possibility  of  painting  con- 
temporary costumes,  it  did  not  long  remain 
alone  in  the  field ;  for  the  costumes  of  the 
peasants  in  all  parts  of  Germany  were  no 
less  picturesque,  and  the  wonder  is  that  they 
had  not  long  before  been  seized  upon  by 
painters  as  worthy  of  their  brush.  In  iso- 
lated cases  this  had,  of  course,  been  done; 
but  the  peasant  of  those  days  had  been  dis- 
covered only  by  the  draughtsmen,  who  were 
rarely  also  painters  and  as  slich  certainly  not 
of  high  merit;  the  caricaturists  had  found 
in  him  a  ready  subject  for  their  wit;  and  it 
was  therefore  not  an  easy  matter  to  lift  him 
out  of  that  position  to  the  dignity  of  a  fit 
subject  for  serious  art.  It  can  therefore  be 
readily  understood  that  when  the  peasant 
first  made  his  appearance  on  canvas,  it  was 
still  in  the  character  of  the  involuntary 
humorist;  his  object  was  only  to  amuse,  and 
whoever  succeeded  best  in  making  his  peas- 


594 


PAINTING  OF  THE  NINETEENTH 


ants  accomplish  this  object,  was  the  most 
popular  artist.  Not  having  been  educated 
to  an  appreciation  of  mere  painting,  to  a 
sensuous  enjoyment  of  art,  pure  and  simple, 
the  public,  naturally,  did  not  look  for  any 
color  qualities  in  the  work  of  their  painters. 
They  told  a  good  story,  that  was  all  that 
was  expected  of  them.  And  in  this  man- 
ner, from  these  beginnings,  grew  the  habit 
of  the  public  to  judge  a  picture  according  to 
its  story-telling  qualities,  a  habit  which  is 
all  too  prevalent  the  world  over  to  this  day. 
The  art  of  the  "historical  painter,"  as  prac- 
ticed during  this  period,  had  the  same  aim ; 
only  it  required  the  learned  commentator's 
explanation  to  make  it  understood,  while  the 
genre  painter's  story  failed  utterly  as  a 
work  of  art,  were  its  "point"  not  readily 
understood  by  everybody.  When  the  vil- 
lage novel  was  introduced  into  German  liter- 
ature, about  the  end  of  the  thirties,  and  was 
eagerly  read  by  all  classes,  artists  were 
quick  to  take  up  the  suggestion.  In  Munich 
the  humorous  situations  of  a  story  found 
their  successful  interpreter  on  canvas  in 
Carl  Enhuber  (1811-1S67),  whose  Inter- 
rupted Card  Party  is  a  characteristic  exam- 
ple of  the  genre  painting  coming  into  favor 
at  the  time.  At  the  village  inn  are  seated 
around  the  table  a  number  of  worthy  citizens 
of  different  useful  callings,  engaged  in  a 
game  of  cards.  Through  the  door  at  the 
rear  suddenly  appears  the  wife  of  the  village 
tailor,  looking  fur  her  good-for-nothing 
spouse,  who  has  crawled  under  the  table  at 
her  approach.  One  of  his  slippers,  which 
had  come  off  in  the  hasty  retreat,  reveals 
his  hiding  place  to  the  boy  who  had  come 
with  the  angrj'  wife,  and  it  is  quite  useless 
for  the  inn-keeper  to  try  to  cover  the  place 
of  refuge  with  his  apron,  for  the  shoeless 
foot  of  the  unlucky  tailor  still  remains 
exposed. 

During  this  period  the  attention  of  Ger- 
man artists  had  already  been  drawn  to  the 
Dutch  masters  of  the  seventeenth  century, 
as  we  have  learned  in  speaking  of  landscape 
painting,  and  the  new  influence  soon  be- 
came apparent.  Wouwermans  had  inspired 
many  of  the  soldier  painters;  Teniers, 
Brower  and  Ostade  were  studied  more 
closely  when  the  war  time  had  passed  and 


military  pictures  no  longer  monopolized  pub- 
lic interest.  In  Munich  Wilhelm  Kobeil 
( 1 766-1855)  and  Peter  Hess  were  among  the 
first  to  make  the  transition.  But  the  fore- 
most among  the  new  figure  painters  was 
undoubtedly 

Heinrich  Biirkel  (1802-1869).  He  was 
turned  away  from  the  Academy  as  being 
without  talent.  This  had  happened  to 
others,  and  Biirkel  was  not  dismayed.  He 
went  to  the  Gallery  at  Schleissheim,  near 
Munich,  and  began  to  copy  the  old  Dutch 
masters.  Then  he  went  out-of-doors  and 
painted  from  nature.  He  had  no  story  to 
tell,  but  painted  the  teamster  trotting  along- 
side his  clumsy  wagon,  the  peasant  plow- 
ing, sowing  or  reaping,  the  postilion  stop- 
ping to  water  his  horses,  a  picturesque  house 
in  winter  and  a  village  street  in  rainy 
weather.  His  color  was  rather  weak,  his 
painting  hard;  but  in  all  his  work  he  shows 
sincere  effort  to  render  nature  truthfully 
and  simply,  without  any  unartistic  after- 
thought, and  his  position  among  all  the 
painting  story-tellers  of  his  time  is  therefore 
unique  and  significant.  Only  one  man  who 
followed  in  his  footsteps  commands  our 
respect: 

Hermann  Kaufmann  (1808-1889).  As  a 
painter,  he  too,  was  weak ;  we  learn  to 
admire  his  genius  in  his  cartoons,  in  which 
shape  he  was  in  the  habit  of  first  designing 
his  pictures ;  and  here,  in  simple  black  and 
white,  with  now  and  then  a  little  indication 
of  color,  we  meet  with  compositions  of  sur- 
prising simplicity  and  strength  of  drawing. 
There  is  the  same  avoidance  of  all  attempt 
at  story-telling  as  in  Biirkel,  whom  he  sur- 
passes in  knowledge  and  skill. 

In  Vienna,  rustic  life  formed  the  subject 
of  the  paintings  by  Ferdinand  Waldmiiller 
(i  793-1865).  He  is  particularly  fond  of 
children,  but  also  selects  scenes  from  the 
life  of  the  peasants  that  lend  themselves  to 
an  idyllic  conception,  treating  them,  how- 
ever, in  a  rather  conventional,  artificial 
manner. 

Peter  Krafft  (i 780-1856),  became  a  famous 
teacher  in  his  time,  insisting  on  conscien- 
tious study  of  nature  and  the  life  of  the  day. 
Though  his  own  rather  ambitious  works  fail 
to  hold  our  interest,  he  nevertheless  occupies 


CENTURY  IN  GERMANY. 


595 


an  important  position  in  the  development  of 
art  in  Austria. 

Joseph  Oanhauser  (1805-1845),  finds  his 
subjects  in  Viennese  city  life;  the  burgher, 
the  artisan,  the  art  student,  supply  the 
themes  for  his  humorous  pictures,  as  they 
were  furnishing  the  material  for  Ferdinand 
Raimund's  farces.  Indeed,  the  Viennese  art 
of  the  times  appears  to  draw  its  inspiration 
very  largely  from  the  stage. 

In  Berlin  F.  E.  Meyerheim  (1808-1879), 
claims  our  attention  as  a  peasant  painter. 
He  devotes  himself  to  the  representation  of 
the  pleasing  side  of  life:  peasants  at  their 
festivities  in  holiday  attire,  children  at  play, 
etc.,  all  of  which  he  paints  in  a  neat  and 
pretty  manner. 

Munich  produced  the  one  artist  ui  this 
epoch  whose  merits  as  a  painter  command 
our  respect  even  to-day,  Carl  Spltzweg 
(1808-1885).  Hs  ^^^  about  thirty  years  old 
before  circumstances  allowed  him  to  turn 
from  his  profession  of  apothecary,  for  which 
he  had  prepared  himself  by  the  prescribed 
course  of  study,  and  devote  himself  to  the 
career  of  an  artist,  for  which  he  had  always 
had  an  insatiable  longing.  He  attended  no 
art  academy  and  has  had  no  teacher,  but 
traveled  extensively,  going  to  Paris,  Lon- 
don and  Antwerp,  and  made  copies  of  the 
old  Dutch  and  other  masters.  Returning  to 
Munich  he  took  up  his  abode  in  a  quaint  old 
quarter  of  the  town,  with  a  view  over  the 
surrounding  housetops.  Here  he  painted 
what  he  saw,  or  had  seen  in  the  days  of  his 
youth,  untouched  by  the  spirt  of  the  "grand 
art"  that  was  making  the  Munich  of  his  days 
so  famous.  Among  all  his  contemporaries 
in  art  he  had  scarcely  a  friend  except 
Schwind,  with  whose  work  he  was  thor- 
oughly in  sympathy,  without  feeling  tempted 
to  make  it  his  own.  It  is  indeed  this  which 
makes  Spitzweg  a  notable  character:  that 
his  art,  though  derived  from  a  close  study  of 
many  masters,  is  so  unlike  any  of  these,  but 
entirely  original  and  individual.  The  world 
he  paints,  the  life  of  the  forties  in  German 
provincial  towns,  is  almost  exclusively  his 
own;  at  all  events,  in  painting,  no  records 
comparable  with  his  pictures  of  these  quaint 
characters  in  their  no  less  quaint  surround- 
ings exist  to-day.     At  a  later  time   artists 


were  tempted  to  delve  into  old  archives  and 
explore  old  lofts  and  forgotten  attics  in 
search  of  discarded  garments  and  furniture 
of  this  period,  and  paint  fmrn  models  there- 
with bedecked;  but  Spitzweg  remains  un- 
rivaled. He  could  paint  a  true  world 
truthfully,  because  he  was  of  it.  His  sen- 
tinel of  the  civil-guard  walking  his  beat  in 
the  moonshine;  his  country-attorney,  goose- 
quill  in  hand,  bent  over  his  writing  with  an 
air  which  betokens  his  exclusive  fitness  for 
the  work;  his  old  bachelors,  carefully  hand- 
ling their  potted  flowers  or  feeding  their 
birds,  or  mending  their  garments,  are  all 
characters  from  real  life  of  a  time  when  the 
signs  of  progress,  the  awakening  of  desires 
for  liberty  and  human  rights  were  still 
viewed  with  as  much  fear  and  trembling  as 
with  fond  hopes.  He  had  remained  the 
same  during  the  well-nigh  fifty  years  of  his 
artistic  career;  and,  when  he  died,  his  art 
was  more  akin  to  modern  ideas  than  that  of 
most  painters  who  began  when  lie  was  at  his 
prime.  He  was  a  healthy  realist  whose  pic- 
tures do  not  indeed  require  a  story  in  order 
to  command  our  attention;  nor  indeed  do 
they  impress  one  as  being  painted  for  the 
purpose  of  telling  a  story ;  tliat  was  merely 
incidental.  It  is  the  quality  of  the  pictur- 
esque that  asserts  itself  above  all  and  the 
quaint  humor,  the  rich  fanc)%  seem  only  an 
unconscious  or,  at  all  events,  an  uncon- 
trollable addition  of  the  man's  unique  nature. 


G 


ERMAN  ROMANTICISTS  AND 
THE  DtJSSELDORF  SCHOOL. 
(8) 


Among  the  German  artists  who 
went  to  Rome  in  the  early  part  of  the  cen- 
tury there  were  those  who  found  something 
else  than  they  sougiit. 

August  Riedel  (1800-1883),  ^^d  begun  his 
artistic  career  at  the  Munich  Academy  as  a 
strict  Classicist,  and  went  to  Rome  in  1823 
in  the  expectation,  no  doubt,  of  perfecting 
his  art  at  the  fountain-head  of  Classicism; 
but,  by  the  example  of  Leopold  Robert  he 
was  led  to  admire  the  picturesque  beauty  of 
Italian  peasant  life  and  the  glorious  richness 
of  color  under  the  southern  sky.      Standing 


596 


PAINTING  OF  THE  NINETEENTH 


to-day  before  his  Neapolitan  Fisher's  Fam- 
ily, we  can  scarcely  realize  that  the  picture 
could  ever  have  created  any  sensation ;  still, 
it  did  so,  in  its  day,  and  people  marveled 
how  it  was  possible  to  produce  such  a  rich 
color-effect  as  the  artist  rendered  in  this  and 
subsequent  paintings.  He  even  excelled  his 
forerunner,  Robert,  in  this  respect,  and  was, 
altogether,  a  most  remarkable  painter  of  his 
time,  whose  works,  like  the  Judith  with  the 
Head  of  Holofernes,  became  immensely 
popular.  Cornelius  is  reported  to  have  said 
to  Riedel:  "You  have  accomplished  in  your 
work  what  I  have  diligently  studied  to  avoid 
all  my  life."     And,  indeed,  compared  with 


By  p^t  mission  of  F.  Han/staettgU 

BEDOUINS    AT    WAR. 


the  frescoes  of  the  German  Michelangelo, 
Riedel's  paintings  have  decided  coloristic 
merits 

The  Orient  also  began  to  attract  the 
artists  about  this  time.  Byron's  poems  and 
the  Greek  wars  of  liberation  had  turned  the 
attention  of  Europe  to  the  East,  and  artists 
were  fascinated  by  the  rich  and  picturesque 
costumes  of  the  Orientals,  so  strikingly  in 
contrast  with  the  modern  garments  of  their 
own  time  and  country.  Hermann  Kretsch- 
mer  (1811-1890),  of  Berlin,  was  among  the 
first  to  seek  this  new  field  of  artistic  activity. 

Wilhelm  Qentz  (1822-1890),  of  Berlin,  was 
likewise   attracted  by  the  splendors  of  the 


Orient  and  produced  works  of  greater  color- 
istic merit  than  any  of  his  Berlin  contem- 
poraries. The  most  widely  known  of  the 
German  artists  who  devoted  themselves  to 
painting  Oriental  subjects  was  undoubtedly 
Adolph  Schreyer  (1828-1899),  of  Frank- 
fort, who  has  become  famous  as  a  painter  of 
Bedouins  and  Arabian  horses.  Though 
becoming  decidedly  mannered  in  his  work, 
there  is  a  sureness  and  dash  in  the  handling 
of  his  brush  and  a  remarkable  richness  of 
color  which  is  not  at  all  chracteristic  of  the 
German  art  of  the  middle  of  the  century. 

Leopold   Miiller   (1834-1892),  was   a   most 
successful     painter    of     Oriental    subjects, 

whose  works  com- 
bine with  a  con- 
scientious ethno- 
graphical study 
also  a  rare  charm 
of  color. 

When    Schadow 
was    called     from 
Berlin    to    assume 
the  molding  of  ar- 
tistic   thought    at 
D  u  s  s  e  1  d  o  r  f ,   he 
proved  himself    a 
most  powerful 
agent.      In  contra- 
distinction to  Mu- 
nich,    where     the 
"grand    style"    of 
monumental     art 
was    being    devel- 
oped by  means  of 
the  cartoon,    Diis- 
seldorf,  as  already  stated,  became    a  school 
of  painting.      Schadow  attracted  a  number 
of     most    talented     pupils,     among    whom 
we   have  already    mentioned    Lessing,    and 
Andreas    Achenbach,   the  painters  of  land- 
scape.    Other  artists  of  this  group  of  Ger- 
man Romanticists  were  Carl  Sohn,  Heinrich 
Miicke,     Theodor    Hildebrand,    H.    Pliidde- 
mann,  Theodor  Winthrop,  Friederich  Itten- 
bach,    Eduard    Bendemann,    Ernst    Deger, 
and  Christian  Kohler;  among  whom  Eduard 
Bendemann    (1811-1889)    became    the   most 
famous,  gaining  prominence  at  once  by  his 
first  large  painting,  Jew's  Lamenting,  which 
v/as  soon  followed  by  his  Two  Maidens  at 


CENTURY  IN  GERMANY. 


597 


the  Well,  Jeremias  on  the  Ruins  of  Jerusa- 
lem, The  Daughters  of  the  Servian  Prince, 
and  other  large  and  small  canvases.  In 
Dresden,  where  he  became  professor  in 
1838,  he  decorated  the  Royal  Palace  with 
frescoes,  and  some  twenty  years  later  was 
appointed  to  fill  the  position  of  his  former 
master,  as  director  of  the  Academy  at 
Diisseldorf. 

All  these  young  men  were  full  of  enthusi- 
asm for  their  art  and  for  their  teacher. 
Schadow  and  his  literary  and  musical 
friends:  Immermann,  who  had  worked  the 
reform  of  the  Diisseldorf  stage;  Felix  Men- 
delsohn, the  composer;  the  assessor  von 
Uechtritz ;  and  Doctor  Kortum,  the  author  of 
the  humorous-satirical  "Jobsiade, "  were  the 
spiritual  advisers,  whose  words  and  works 
inspired  our  young  artists,  who  lived  and 
thrived  in  an  atmosphere  of  Romanticism, 
having  but  little  touch  with  the  actual  life 
surrounding  them.  Immermann  had  created 
an  interest  in  Shakespeare,  whose  dramas 
formed  thenceforth  an  important  part  of  the 
repertoir  of  every  German  stage,  and  it  was 

Ferd.  Theodor  Hildebrandt  (1804-1874), 
who  found  therein  a  mine  for  his  artistic  pro- 
ductiveness. On  stated  evenings  the  artists 
met  to  enjoy  readings  from  the  Romantic 
poets,  or  listen  to  chapters  from  German  his- 
tory, especially  of  the  period  of  the  great 
emperors,  of  the  crusades,  of  the  turbulent 
times  of  the  Hussites;  and  thus  their  imagi- 
nations became  filled  with  the  figures  of  ro- 
mance and  of  the  stage.  Goethe's  "Torquato 
Tasso"  inspires  Carl  Sohn  (1805-1867)  to 
paint  The  Two  Leonoras,  followed  by 
others  of  Goethe's  heroines.  Walter  Scott 
furnishes  the  material  for  H.  Stilke's  (1803- 
1860)  paintings,  and  Lessing  scores  his 
first  success  with  The  Sorrowing  Royal 
Couple,  for  which  Ludwig  Uhland  furnishes 
the  incentive;  while  Biirgers  "Leonora"  is 
made  the  subject  of  another  picture  by  him. 
Most  of  the  religious  works  of  these  early 
Dusseldorfers  owe  their  origin  to  the 
dramatization  of  Old  Testament  stories  and 
the  Hebrew  elegies.  Thus  Klingemann's 
dramatization  of  the  Life  of  Moses  inspired 
Christian  Kbhier  (1809- 1861)  to  paint  Moses 
Hidden  in  the  Bullrushes,  The  Finding  of 
Moses,  and  other  compositions. 


There  is  an  unhealthy  vein  of  sentimen- 
tality running  through  the  works  of  this 
period,  which,  though  it  was  the  natural 
outgrowth  of  the  age,  was  not  allowed  to 
remain  unnoticed  and  uncondemned  at  the 
time.  There  were  those  who  did  not  keep 
aloof  from  the  life  of  the  people,  and  had 
an  eye  for  the  realistic  and  for  the  humor- 
ous side  of  life.  When  Bendemann  touched 
the  heart  of  the  sentimental  with  his  Jews 
Lamenting,  Adolph  Schroeder  (1805-1875) 
produced  his  Sorrowing  Tanners,  as  an  anti- 
dote. 

Peter  Masenclever  (1810-1853)  found  in 
Kortiim's  satirical  epopee  "Jobsiade"  a 
source  for  his  most  popular  productions,  of 
which  his  painting  in  the  Munich  Pinako- 
thek.  Job's  Examination,  is  probably  the 
most  widely-known. 

Rudolph  Jordan  (1810-1887)  bases  his 
reputation  as  one  of  the  most  popular  Diis- 
seldorf artists  on  such  paintings  as  his  Mar- 
riage in  Helgoland;  and  the  Norwegian 
Adolph  Tidemand  (1814- 1876)  painted 
peasant  pictures  from  his  native  land.  His 
art  steers  clear  of  the  humorous  and  the 
sentimental,  then  so  prevalent  in  Diissel- 
dorf, contenting  itself  with  the  plain  repre- 
sentation of  native  customs.  Such  pictures 
as  his  Adorning  the  Bride  first  made  Ger- 
many acquainted  with  the  picturesque 
wealth  of  Norwegian  costumes. 

Whatever  view  we  may  take  of  the  Diis- 
seldorf art  of  this  period,  we  cannot  help 
acknowledging  that  these  German  Roman- 
ticists seriously  tried  to  re-establish  the  art  of 
painting  in  oil  colors,  and,  as  a  result  of  their 
earnest  and  conscientious  studies,  they  easily 
outranked  all  other  schools  in  Germany  as 
painters.  Their  popularity  had  grown 
world-wide  and  their  influence  soon  made 
itself  felt  throughout  Europe  and  in  Amer- 
ica as  well. 

But  Diisseldorf,  the  home  of  Romanticism, 
was  destined  to  produce  the  one  artist  whose 
claim  to  being  the  greatest  German  monu- 
mental painter  of  the  nineteenth  century 
cannot  be  successfully  disputed,  Alfred 
Rethel  (1816-1859).  In  the  Kaisersaal  at 
Aix-la-Chapelle  there  is  a  series  of  frescoes, 
illustrating  the  historj'  of  the  great  Emperor 
Charlemagne,     which    were    designed,    but 


598 


PAINTING  OF  THE  NINETEENTH 


FAIRY    TALE    OF    THE    SEVEN    RAVENS.       SCHWIND. 


only  partly  executed  by  Rethel.  There  is 
a  certain  vigor  and  harshness  in  his  work, 
which,  in  a  measure,  suggests  the  rugged 
strength  of  Diirer,  without  being  directly 
imitative  of  the  great  master.  One  feels 
as  though  they  might  both  have  been  born 
of  the  same  stock,  and  this  becomes  still 
more  apparent  in  Rethel's  designs  for  wood- 
cuts, notably  in  the  series  which  he  pub- 
lished under  the  title  Auch  ein  Todtentanz 
(Another  Dance  of  Death),  in  which  he 
depicts  Death  both  as  the  enemy  and  as  the 
friend  of  man.  The  latter  conception  is 
especially  noteworthy;  high  above  the  habi- 
tations of  the  throng  dwells  the  bell-ringer 
in  his  solitary  chamber  in  the  church-stee- 
ple ;  he  has  become  old  and  feeble  after  a 
long  and  weary  life,  the  closing  years  of 
which  were  spent  in  the  monotonous  duty 
of  tolling  the  church  bells.  Death  has  come 
to  relieve  him — quietly  and  peacefully,  his 
hands  gently  folded  in  prayer,  he  has  gone 
to  rest  in  the  old  arm-chair,  while  his  deliv- 
erer, the  ghastly  skeleton  enveloped  in 
the  folds  of  a  cowl,  has  assumed  for 
the  nonce  his  office  of  notifying  the  com- 
munity that  another  soul  has  passed  into 
eternity.  Rethel  was  only  24  when  he 
designed   the   frescoes   for   the   Kaisersaal. 


What  he  might  have  accomplished,  had  a 
long  life  been  his,  can  only  be  surmised; 
but  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  his  concep- 
tion of  monumental  and  hi,storical  painting 
was  immeasurably  superior  to  that  of  Cor- 
nelius and  his  following,  being  clear  and 
comprehensible  without  any  learned  expla- 
nation, and  based  on  a  close  and  conscien- 
tious study  of  nature.  Had  he  lived,  it  is 
more  than  likely  that  he  would  have  led 
monumental  art  in  Germany  to  a  glorious 
triumph.  He  fell  a  victim  to  insanity,  and 
spent  the  last  few  years  of  his  young  life  in 
an  asylum.  Schadow  in  Diisseldorf  and 
Veit  in  Frankfort  had  been  his  teachers,  but 
his  strong  individuality  was  not  perceptibly 
influenced  by  either. 


M 


ORITZ  VON  SCHWIND.  (9) 


While  Diisseldorf  had  thus 
threatened  to  "steal  the  thun- 
der" of  Cornelius  at   Munich,  the 

latter  place  gave  to  the  world  the  last  and 

fairest  flower  of  Romanticism  in 

Moritz  V.  Schwind  (1804-1871).     To  know 

Schwind  is  to  love  him;  and  so  much  is  he 

loved  in  his  own  country,  that  little  of  his 


CENTURY  IN  GERMANY. 


599 


work,  except  through  reproductions,  is 
known  outside  of  Germany.  At  the  Paris 
Exposition  of  1867  the  work  of  Schwind 
aroused  the  interest  and  genuine  admiration 
of  the  Frenchmen,  though  in  its  spirit  and 
in  its  execution  it  was  alike  alien  \.o  their 
feeling.  But  they  recognized  that  here  was 
the  work  of  one  who  was  an  artist  to  the 
core;  one  who  had  been  born  in  the  realm 
of  Romanticism  and  became  its  chosen  inter- 
preter for  all  times  and  climes;  one  to  whom 
his  world  of  phantasy  was  a  living  reality, 
which  he  could,  by  the  magic  of  his  touch, 
render  credible  and  visible  to  others. 

Schwind's  birthplace  was  Vienna;  and  the 
ga)%  cheerful  city  seems  reflected  in  his 
honest,  jovial  nature,  whose  art  was  ever 
true  to  his  inmost  feeling,  always  pure  and 
noble  as  the  man  himself.  Called  to 
Munich  in  1828  to  assist  in  carrying  out  the 
plans  of  Ludwig  I.  of  decorating  the  new 
buildings,  he  does  not  appear  to  best  advan- 
tage. Indeed,  it  is  not  the  "historical 
painter"  one  thinks  of  when  Schwind's 
name  is  mentioned;  and  of  all  his  frescoes 
those  at  the  "Wartburg"  alone  appeal 
strongly  to  our  sympathy,  for  in  the  legend 
of  "St.  Elizabeth"  he  stands  firmly  rooted 
in  the  soil  of  Romanticism.  It  is  as  the 
interpreter  of  the  German  fairy  tale,  how- 
ever, that  his  art  finds  a  ready  echo  in  every 
sensitive  soul. 

The  world  of  poetry  is  here  made  one  of 
beautiful  reality,  for  who  would  dare  dispute 
the  existence  of  the  characters  in  "Der  ges- 
tiefelte  Kater, "  for  instance?  And  the 
"Story  of  the  Seven  Ravens";  is  it  not  all 
true,  this  charming  story  of  the  faithful  sis- 
ter? Briefly  told  it  runs  thus:  A  poor  wid- 
owed woman  has  seven  boys  and  one 
daughter;  the  former  seem  insatiable  in 
their  appetite  and  are  always  crying  for 
more,  when  in  a  fit  of  anger  the  poor  help- 
less mother  cries  out:  "I  wish  you  were  all 
ravens ! ' '  No  sooner  have  the  words  escaped 
her  lips,  than  the  boys  are  all  turned  into 
ravens,  and  fly  out  of  the  window,  while  the 
mother  sinks  lifeless  to  the  floor.  The  sister 
follows  her  brothers  into  the  woods;  and, 
when  she  falls  exhausted  to  the  ground,  a 
fairy  appears  to  her  and  tells  her  that  she 
can    reclaim    her    brothers     by    remaining 


speechless  for  seven  years  and  at  the  same 
time  weaving  a  garment  for  each  of  them. 
This  part  of  the  story  is  indicated  in  six 
panels  on  the  walls  of  a  room  in  which  the 
artist's  family  is  gathered  to  listen  to  it  as 
recited  by  the  good  grandmother.  The 
story  is  then  continued  in  a  series  of  four- 
teen designs,  set  as  wall  decorations  in  an 
architectural  frame-work  of  Romanesque 
style.  The  second  design  takes  us  to  the 
interior  of  a  forest,  where,  in  the  hollow  of 
an  old  oak-tree,  the  sister  has  made  her 
home  and  is  busily  spinning  yarn  for  her 
brothers'  garments.  A  prince,  hunting  in 
the  forest,  discovers  her  and,  enchanted  by 
her  loveliness,  decides  to  carry  her  home  to 
his  castle  and  make  her  his  bride.  Though 
following  him,  she  is  true  to  her  pledge  and 
refuses  to  utter  a  word.  Then  follow  other 
designs  presenting  the  following  incidents: 
preparation  for  the  wedding;  the  princess 
as  benefactress  of  the  poor;  her  nightly 
occupation  of  spinning,  to  finish  the  seventh 
garment;  she  gives  birth  to  twins,  which, 
to  the  horror  and  amazement  of  all  present, 
fly  off  as  young  ravens,  while  the  poor 
mother  is  admonished  by  the  fairy  to  remain 
silent;  the  princess  is  tried  before  the  secret 
court  of  justice  and  found  guilty  of  witch- 
ery; she  is  bound  in  prison  by  the  rough 
hands  of  the  jailors;  the  fairj'  once  more 
appears  to  her,  with  an  hour-glass  in  her 
hand  to  show  that  the  hour  of  deliverance 
is  near;  crowds  of  poor  people,  to  whom  the 
princess  had  been  a  benefactress,  block  the 
door  of  the  prison,  thus  delaying  the  threat- 
ened execution ;  at  last  she  is  bound  to  the 
stake,  when  lo!  the  seven  brothers  come 
rushing  along  on  white  steeds,  while  the 
fairy  holds  the  twins  in  her  arms;  only  one 
brother  is  not  entirely  transformed,  one  arm 
remaining  in  the  shape  of  a  wing — the  com- 
pletion of  his  shirt  having  been  prevented 
by  the  faithful  sister's  imprisonment.  As 
in  the  grand  finale  of  an  opera,  all  the  char- 
acters of  the  play  are  here  imited  in  a  joyous 
scene  of  triumphant  love  and  faith. 

A  musical  simile  is  easily  suggested 
by  his  compositions  Cinderella,  the  Story 
of  the  Beautiful  Melusine,  and  kindred 
subjects.  Indeed,  Schwind's  designs  are 
ever  unmistakably  musical  in  feeling.      And 


6oo 


PAINTING  OF  THE  NINETEENTH 


this  sweet  singer  of  Romanticism,  how 
charmingly  realistic  he  could  be!  There  is 
a  painting  in  the  Schack-Gallery  at  Munich, 
The  Wedding  Trip,  in  which  he  records 
with  simple  truthfulness  an  episode  from  his 
own  life  in  a  manner  which  at  once  brings 
to  mind  Si:)itzweg,  though  it  is  not  painted 
as  well.  Another  little  picture,  Horses  Led 
to  the  Well  by  a  Hermit,  shows  Schwind's 
spiritual  kinship  to  Bocklin,  though  the 
charm  of  the  latter's  coloring  is  utterly 
wanting.     Though  he  lived  to  see  the  tri- 


wlijdim:    n;u'.     .sciiui.\D. 


umphant  progress  of  the  realistic  school, 
Schwind's  art  remained  untouched  by  the 
new  doctrine  of  color.  If,  in  spite  of  this, 
we  can  to  this  day  honestly  admire  the  work 
of  Schwind,  it  is  on  account  of  its  inherent 
beauty  of  form  and  poetic  purity  and  rich- 
ness. He  once  said:  "Beauty  is  the  most 
indispensable  thing  on  earth,  for  all  else  can- 
not completely  satisfy  one.  When  his  last 
hour  was  approaching,  with  his  face  turned 
to  the   setting  sun,  he   exclaimed:   "Now  I 

feel  well,  this  is  beautiful !"  And  the  last 

and   greatest  Romanticist  had  passed  away. 


T 


HE    GENRE    PAINTERS; 
WIG  KNAUS.{io) 


LUD- 


A  number  of  causes  combined  to 
lead  artists  into  other  fields  of 
observation.  Peasants  do  not  only  smile; 
they  have  their  sorrows  and  griefs,  and,  in- 
deed, take  life  far  more  seriously  than  artists 
were  wont  to  make  believe,  as  they  could 
not  help  learning  through  frequent  inter- 
course with  them.  Besides,  all  mankind  was 
at  this  time  deeply  stirred  by  the  social  and 
political  questions  of  the  day,  which  had 
brought  the  working  classes  as  a  mighty 
factor  into  action,  and  culminated  in  the 
revolution  of  1848,  The  social  distress  pre- 
vailing in  some  of  the  manufacturing  dis- 
tricts was  made  the  theme  of  stirring 
appeals  in  prose  and  verse,  and  it  was  but 
natural  that  the  seriousness  of  the  age  should 
be  reflected  in  its  art.  The  peasantry  con- 
tinued to  furnish  the  most  paintable  models; 
but  no  longer  to  the  exclusion  of  other 
classes;  and  the  subjects  selected  partook 
more  of  the  pathetic  than  the  humorous, 
illustrating  with  more  or  less  force  and 
truth  incidents  of  striking  moment  in  the 
life  of  the  people.  A  very  direct  influence 
upon  German  art  of  this  period  was  exerted 
by  the  Englishman,  David  Wilkie,  whose 
works  had  become  known  on  the  continent 
and  whose  picture,  Opening  of  the  Will,  in 
the  Pinakothek  at  Munich  served  as  a  model 
for  many  artists. 

Gisbert  Fliiggen  (i8n  -  i860),  proudly 
called  the  "German  Wilkie,"  took  the  lead 
among  artists  as  a  painter  of  pictures  "with 
a  social  purpose."  In  his  canvas  called 
The  Decision  of  the  Law-Suit,  everything  is 
very  carefully  composed  in  the  (then)  most 
approved  fashion;  the  pathetic,  the  humor- 
ous, the  sentimental,  have  all  been  judici- 
ously considered  and  rendered  in  a  loving 
and  conscientious  manner;  and  people 
bowed  in  admiration  before  the  genius  of 
Fliiggen.  We  see  the  closing  scene  in  a 
crowded  court-room  of  a  trial  at  law  between 
a  noble  family  and  some  obscure  contestant, 
the  final  verdict  having  been  rendered  in 
favor  of  the  latter.  The  defeated  nobleman 
with  the  haughty  and  disgusted  members  of 
his  family  are  retiring  in  hot  haste  from  the 


CENTURY  IN  GERMANY. 


60 1 


scene  of  their  humiliation,  their  attorney 
evidently  trying  to  explain  that  he  did  all 
he  could,  which  only  seems  to  vex  his  client 
the  mi)re.  To  the  right  are  grouped  the 
members  of  the  victorious  family,  the  aged 
head  of  the  household  being  conspicuously 
seated  in  a  chair,  surrounded  by  his  happy 
friends,  among  whom  the  village  parson  by 
an  expressive  gesture  indicates  the  true  and 
unfailing  source  of  all  justice,  while  a  female 
member  offers  the  young  attorney  a  reward 
which  he  nobly  declines  to  accept.  On  a 
raised  platform  in  the  rear  the  members  of 
the  august  tribunal,  before  whom  the  case 
was  tried,  are  preparing  to  leave,  the  clerks 
still  busy  over  the  records. 

Another  Diisseldorf  artist  who  shared  the 
honors  with  him  was  Carl  Hiibner  (1814- 
1879).  The  pitiful  social  distress  of  the 
working-classes  found  in  him  a  most  sym- 
pathetic interpreter.  His  paintings  of  The 
Silesian  Weavers,  The  Emigrants,  The 
Execution  for  Rent,  and  Benevolence  to  the 
Poor  are  most  affecting  appeals  on  behalf  of 
the  downtrodden,  overladen  bearers  of  this 
life's  burdens. 

While  art  was  thus  mightily  affected  by 
the  conditions  of  contemporary  life,  it  was, 
from  the  fact  of  claiming  for  itself  a  mission 
outside  of  its  province,  seriously  retarded  in 
its  development.  The  painters  still  con- 
tinued to  cherish  the  notion  that  above  all 
their  pictures  must  lend  forcible  expression 
to  some  idea,  must  be  the  means  of  convey- 
ing some  lesson,  of  telling  some  story. 
Only  the  character  of  the  story  had  changed 
from  the  humorous  to  the  pathetic;  but  the 
artistic  value  of  their  performances  had  not 
perceptibly  increased,  the}'  had  not  yet 
really  learned  to  paint.  While  sharing  this 
failing  (though  in  a  smaller  measure)  with 
the  followers  of  Cornelius,  they  have,  at 
least,  this  advantage,  that  they  were  in 
closer  touch  with  the  life  of  their  time. 
While  the  historical  painters  tried,  in  a  more 
or  less  learned  way,  to  impart  the  knowledge 
of  history,  the  genre  painters  posed  as  pub- 
lic entertainers,  one  as  a  clever  humorist, 
another  inclining  towards  the  sentimental, 
another  in  the  role  of  a  moralist,  and  so  on; 
" — but  they  were  not  painters.  And 
painters  under  these  conditions  they  were 


unable  to  become.  For  though  it  is  often 
urged  in  older  books  on  the  history  of  art 
that  modern  genre  painting  far  outstripped 
the  old  Dutch  genre  in  incisiveness  of  char- 
acterization, depth  of  psychological  concep- 
tion, and  opulence  of  invention ;  these 
merits  are  bought  at  the  expense  of  all  pic- 
torial harmony.  In  the  days  of  Rembrandt 
the  Dutch  were  painters  to  their  fingers' 
ends,  and  they  were  able  to  be  so  because 
they  appealed  to  a  public  whose  taste  was 
adequately  trained  to  gain  a  refined  pleasure 
in  the  contemplation  of  works  of  art  which 
had  sterling  merits  of  color. 

" The  principal  difference  be- 
tween them  is  this:  a. /^tiiiiWr  sees  his  pic- 
ture rather  than  what  may  be  extracted 
from  it  by  thought;  the  gcnrc-paintcr  on 
the  other  hand,  has  an  idea  in  his  mind,  an 
'invention,'  and  plans  out  a  picture  for  its 
expression.  The  painter  does  not  trouble 
his  head  about  the  subject  and  the  narrative 
contents;  his  poetry  lies  in  the  kingdom  of 
color." — Dr.  Richard  Mut/icr,  "History  of 
Paint iug  in  the  XIX  Century." 

While  no  painter  of  that  period  is  on  rec- 
ord as  entirely  in  sympathy  with  these 
views,  it  is,  nevertheless,  a  fact,  that  the 
acquirement  of  a  better  knowledge  of  color 
was  gradually  becoming  a  more  and  more 
important  aim  among  genre  painters.  Un- 
questionably, landscape  painting  and  the 
more  thorough  knowledge  of  the  old  Dutch 
masters  were  leading  in  this  direction. 
There  soon  appeared  a  man  whose  works 
were  so  immeasurably  superior  to  those  of 
his  fellow  artists,  that  he  marks  an  epoch  in 
the  development  of  modern  art,  Ludwig 
Knaus  (born  October  5,  1829).  That  pos- 
terity will  not  accord  to  the  famous  genre 
painters  of  the  middle  of  the  century  the 
great  importance  attached  to  them  by  those 
who  were  witnesses  of  their  early  struggles 
and  final  successes,  who  saw  in  their  advent 
the  prayed-for  deliverance  from  the  unbear- 
able yoke  of  insipidity  which  oppressed  the 
Romantic  school,  may  be  accepted  as  inevit- 
able. What  they  were  to  their  age,  how- 
ever, should  not  be  forgotten,  in  spite  of  all 
their  shortcomings  as  painters  which  the 
historian  is  bound  to  consider.  Their  in- 
disputable    merits     as      pathfinders,      the 


6o2 


PAINTING  OF  THE  NINETEENTH 


healthy,  robust  realism  of  their  art  com- 
pared with  that  of  their  immediate  forerun- 
ners, give  to  them  an  importance  which  it 
would  be  folly  to  belittle.  It  is  to  their 
sincerity  that  we  owe  the  advancement  of 
the  century's  art  in  as  great  a  measure  as 
to  the  teachings  of  Piloty,  with  whom  real- 
ism begins  its  mighty  reign.  The  genre- 
painters  stood  nearer  to  the  life  of  the 
people,  felt  its  pulse  more  keenly.  If, 
with  all  their  advance  as  painters,  they 
still  remained  chiefly  narrators,  it  is 
because  that  was,  the  world  over,  still 
considered  the  artist's  province.  They 
added   no  new  principle  to  art,   it  is  true. 


GOLDEN  WEDDING.   KNAUS, 


but  brought  the  older  to  greater  perfection. 
Their  knowledge  of  their  subject  was  more 
profound,  their  power  of  observation  keener, 
their  technical  ability  far  superior  to  that  of 
their  predecessors. 

Knaus  was  among  the  very  first  to  rec- 
ognize the  undeniable  importance  of  these 
requirements.  At  the  Dusseldorf  Academy 
he  had  studied  under  Carl  Sohn  in  the  draw- 
ing and  painting  classes,  and  was  thereupon 
admitted  to  the  composition  class,  under 
Schadow,  the  director,  who  showed  no  sym- 
pathy with  the  naturalistic  and  characteriz- 
ing tendencies  of  the  young  man;  and  when 
Knaus  petitioned  for  an  appropriation  from 


the  fund  established  for  the  payment  of 
models,  he  was  informed  that  such  assist- 
ance was  only  accorded  "talented  pupils." 
Thereupon  he  left  the  school.  The  year 
1848  found  him  one  of  a  lot  of  shiftless  and 
thriftless  young  art-students,  when  it  oc- 
curred to  him  to  retire  to  the  country  and 
paint  studies  there.  Returning  to  Diissel- 
dorf  he  began  to  utilize  his  studies,  painting 
a  number  of  pictures,  chief  among  which 
was  a  large  canvas,  The  Country  Fair  in 
Hessia,  which  at  once  placed  him  in  the 
front  rank  of  the  Dusseldorf  genre  painters. 
Going  to  the  Black  Forest  he  found  material 
for  a  number  of  paintings.  The  Gamblers 
being  one  of  the  most 
striking  of  his  com- 
positions. In  1852  he 
was  seized  by  a  de- 
sire to  "see  the 
world,"  and  decided 
on  a  trip  to  Paris, 
intending  to  spend 
about  three  weeks 
there.  He  remained 
eight  years.  There 
he  painted  a  picture, 
The  Morning  after  a 
Rural  Festival,  and 
sent  it  to  the  Salon 
of  1853,  where  it  was 
awarded  a  second 
class  medal.  His 
Golden  Wedding 
painted  in  1858,  and 
perhaps  his  finest  pic- 
ture, stood  on  a  tech- 
nical lead  with  the  works  of  the  French. 
Edmond  About,  the  famous  French  writer, 
speaks  thus  of  Knaus,  in  1855:  "I  do  not 
know  whether  Herr  Knaus  has  long 
nails;  but  even  if  they  were  as  long  as  those 
of  Mephistopheles,  I  should  say  that  he  was 
an  artist  to  his  fingers'  ends.  His  pictures 
please  the  Sunday  public  (on  Sunday,  being 
a  free  day,  the  Salon  is  crowded  by  the 
people,  shopkeepers,  workingmen,  etc.),  the 
Friday  public  (Fridays,  an  increased  admis- 
sion fee  is  charged),  the  critics,  the  bour- 
geois, and — God  forgive  me ! — the  painters 
What  is  seductive  to  the  great  multitude  is 
the  clearly  expressed  dramatic  idea.     The 


CENTURY  IN  GERMANY. 


603 


artists  and  connoisseurs  are  won  by  his 
knowledge  and  thorough  ability.  Herr 
Knaus  has  the  capacity  of  satisfying  every- 
one. The  most  incompetent  eyes  are  at- 
tracted by  his  pictures,  because  they  tell 
pleasant  anecdotes,  but  they  likewise  fasci- 
nate the  most  jaded  by  perfect  execution  of 
detail.  The  whole  talent  of  Germany  is 
contained  in  the  person  of  Herr  Knaus. 
So  Germany  lives  in  the  Rue  de  I'Arcade, 
in  Paris." 

It  is  not  only  because  of  the  dictates  of 
fashion  that  Knaus  does  not  rank  as  a  "col- 
orist"  to-day,  even  not  more  than  any  of  his 
immediate  followers,  who,  in  this  respect, 
did  not  quite  attain  to  his  standard.  For  the 
end  of  the  century  finally  witnessed  that  new 
birth  of  painting,  brought  that  revelation 
of  color  in  the  outward  appearance  of  things 
which  had  for  long  been  so  eagerly  sought, 
and  without  the  knowledge  of  which  tlie  art 
of  painting  could  not  hope  to  regain  its  once 
commanding  position.  It  must  not  be  over- 
looked that  the  period  we  are  considering — 
a  hundred  years — will  mark  only  one  of 
many  centuries  in  the  contemplations  of 
future  critics,  and  that  the  achievements  of 
to-day  will  not  be  measured  by  the  pride  we 
take  in  them  now.  The  question  will  not 
be:  wliat  has  the  art  of  the  nineteenth  cen- 
tury learned  from  previous  ages?  but:  what 
has  it  added  to  the  knowledge  inherited? 
And  it  was  not  until  another  generation 
that  any  such  addition  was  made. 

Consequently,  Knaus  and  his  famous  con- 
temporaries, for  all  the  genuine  pleasure 
they  have  brought  into  the  world,  will  be 
relegated  to  a  far  less  conspicuous  position 
by  the  impartial  judgment  of  Time  than 
our  own  warm  love  and  gratefulness  would 
choose  for  them.  Diirer  and  Holbein  have 
not  yet  found  their  peer  among  nineteenth 
century  artists,  either  in  Germany  or  any 
other  country.  It  is  claimed  for  Knaus, 
not  without  good  reason,  that  in  certain 
cases  of  characterization — for  instance  in 
his  Council  of  Hauenstein  Peasants — he 
attained  to  an  eminence  not  unworthy  of 
Holbein;  but  Holbein  is  great  not  because 
he  attained  to  an  eminence  not  unworthy  of 
some  one  else,  but  because  he  is  Holbein; 
while  Knaus,  Vautier  and  the  most  lovable 


of  the  three,  Defregger,  hold  our  attention 
by  virtue  mainly  of  their  great  narrative 
powers,  though  as  painters  they  have  long 
been  surijassed  by  many,  even  by  artists  ot 
far  less  talent. 

Knat'S  was  not  only  a  painter  of  peasants. 
He  brings  to  bear  the  same  keen  observation 
on  city  life,  and  is  a  most  charming  narrator 
of  childhood's  little  griefs  and  pleasures. 
In  his  very  popular  painting.  As  tlie  Old  Do 
Sing  Thus  Pipe  the  Young,  he  has  given 
unmistakable  proof  of  this.  When,  in  1874, 
he  took  up  his  abode  in  Berlin,  he  found 
most  picturesque  subjects  among  the  Jews 
and  other  city-types,  which  lend  themselves 
readily  to  his  humorous  conception.  He 
also  ventures  into  the  field  of  religious  art; 
though  there  is  no  evidence  that  this  is  done 
from  any  deeply  religious  impulse,  but 
rather  because  the  subject  seems  to  suggest 
to  his  feeling  certain  artistic  possibilities 
that  he  is  inclined  to  express.  This  is 
indeed — next  to  a  growing  demand — the 
l^rime  moving-power  for  the  production  of 
the  vast  numbers  of  Madonnas  of  the  pres- 
ent day. 

That  one,  whose  power  of  characterization 
is  so  eminent,  should  be  employed  as  a  por- 
traitist, seems  but  natural.  But,  singularly 
enough,  it  is  here  where  he  failed.  Not 
satisfied  with  expressing  the  character  of 
his  sitter  in  the  face  and  general  bearing, 
which  he  has  so  masterfully  done  in  some  of 
his  crayon-studies  of  peasants,  he  calls  into 
requisition  a  whole  cumbersome  apparatus 
of  accessories  to  help  one  guess  at  his  sitter's 
identity,  or,  at  least,  his  calling.  While 
apologists  for  this  sort  of  thing  may  point 
to  examples  even  like  Holbein's  George 
Gisse,  it  is  well  to  remember  that  such  por- 
traits are  the  exception  and  owe  their  origin 
presumably  rather  to  the  notion  of  the 
patron  than  to  the  artist's  choice. 

Measuring  art  by  the  standard  of  its  time, 
Knaus'  position  at  the  head  of  the  long  list 
of  painter-narrators  is  unassailable.  His 
influence  and  that  of  his  great  contem- 
poraries is  not  confined  to  their  native  land, 
but  extends — for  good  and  for  evil — to  all 
other  countries  where  the  spirit  of  Roman- 
ticism was,  with  more  or  less  success,  threat- 
ening to  stifle  a  healthy  art  sentiment. 


6o4 


PAINTING  OF  THE  NINETEENTH 


VAUTIERAND  DEFREGGER.  (i  i) 
Any  review  of  the  standing  of 
Knaiis  immediately  suggests  the 
name  of 
Benjamin  Vautier  (1829  Switzerland 
— 1898).  His  pictures  appeal  even  more 
readily  to  the  sympathies  of  the  public  than 
those  of  Knaus.  Vautier's  familiarity  with 
the  peasant-life  which  he  portrays  is  more 
genuine,  his  sympathy  with  his  subject  more 
heartfelt.  While  Knaus  seems  rather  fond 
of  an  elaborate  stage-setting,  Vautier  con- 
tents himself  with  the  unpretentious  sur- 
roundings in   which   he   finds  his   peasants. 


By  courtesy  of  Bet  tin  Photo.  Co. 

MORNING    BATH.       V..\rTIER. 

and  of  which  they  really  form  part  and  par- 
cel. In  Vautier  the  art  of  the  genre  painter 
reaches  a  degree  of  amiability  exceeded  only 
by  Defregger,  though  as  painters  of  the 
period  they  both  remain  behind  Knaus. 
The  position  which  Vautier  holds  in  the 
hearts  of  his  countrymen  is  well  stated  in 
the  words  of  Dr.  Muther:  "There  is  some- 
thing sound  and  pure  in  his  characters,  in 
his  pictures  something  peaceful  and  cordial ; 
it  does  not,  indeed,  make  his  paltry,  pedan- 
tic style  of  painting  any  better,  but  from  the 
human  standpoint  it  touches  one  sympa- 
thetically. His  countrymen  may  be  ashamed 
of  Vautier  as  a  painter  when  they  come 
across  him  amongst  aliens  in  foreign  exhibi- 


tions, but  they  rejoipe  in  him  none  the  less 
as  a  genre  painter.  It  is  as  if  they  had 
been  met  by  the  quiet,  faithful  gaze  of  a 
German  eye  amid  the  fiery  glances  of  the 
Latin  nations.  It  is  as  if  they  suddenly 
heard  a  simple  German  song,  rendered  with- 
out training  and  yet  with  a  great  deal  of 
feeling.  A  generation  ago  Knaus  could 
exhibit  everything  as  a  painter;  as  such, 
Vautier  was  possible  only  in  Germany  in 
the  sixties.  But  behind  the  figures  of 
Knaus  there  always  stands  the  Berlin 
professor;  while  in  Vautier,  there  laughs 
a  kindly  fragment  of  popular  German 
life." 

Franz  V.  Defregger  (born  1835), 
is,  of  all  the  masters  issuing  from 
Piloty's  studio,  the  most  popular, 
the  most  thoroughly  lovable.  A 
healthy,  uncorrupted  nature  from 
the  mountain  home,  where,  in 
their  freedom,  the  people  cherish 
no  wild  ambitions,  but  lead,  for 
the  most  part,  a  quietly  happy 
life  that  knows  little  and  cares 
less  for  the  distant  world's  angry 
strife  and  ceaseless  struggles  for 
supremacy,  Defregger  remains 
true  to  himself  in  his  art.  With 
a  keen  perception  of  character 
and  fine  psychological  observa- 
tion, he  presents  the  life  of  his 
■*  countrymen     in    all    its    cheerful 

aspects  with  mcst  convincing 
truth,  and  a  manner  at  once  force- 
ful and  pleasing.  His  technique 
is  simple,  his  color  oftentimes  disagreeably 
brown ;  the  glowing  orange  lights  and  pur- 
plish shadows  of  the  younger  school  re- 
mained strange  to  his  perception;  but  there 
are  certain  small  canvases  of  his  that  are 
charmingly  grey  in  tone,  while  a  rich, 
golden,  by  no  means  objectionable  quality, 
pervades  such  pictures  as  his  Arrival  at  the 
Dance.  It  is,  however,  not  as  a  colorist, 
that  Defregger  must  be  considered,  for 
such  he  never  aspired  to  be.  From  his 
teacher,  no  doubt,  hails  his  greater  admira- 
tion for  the  old  masters  than  for  the  younger 
school's  impetuous  seeking  after  new  truths, 
though  as  a  teacher  he  himself  cheerfully 
allows  those  of  a  different  mind  to  follow 


CENTURY  IN  GERMANY. 


605 


their  own  bent.  Great  masters  have  not 
emanated  from  his  school ;  for,  in  Def  regger, 
the  art  of  the  genre  painter  has  reached 
that  height  from  which  there  is  only  a  de- 
cline, and,  if  any  of  his  pupils  would  surpass 
their  master,  it  can  only  be  along  another 
path. 

Owing  more  to  outward  influence  than  to 
any  irresistable  inner  compulsion,  Defregger 
is,  at  times,  induced  to  leave  the  field  of  the 


for  him  the  widest  popularitj* ;  and  with  this 
picture  he  had  found  his  proper  sphere. 
That  the  national  hero  Andreas  Hufer 
should  appeal  to  Uefregger's  artistic  imag- 
ination and  sympathies  is  but  natural.  The 
results  are  not  altogether  satisfactory,  per- 
haps least  of  all  to  himself;  certainly 
Andreas  Hofer's  Last  Steps  was  a  mistake, 
and  painted  rather  as  a  concession  to  a  sup- 
posed demand   than   from   any  great   inner 


By  permisiion  of  f.  Han/staengL 


ARRIVAL   AT  Till     I'ANn  DKFREGGKR. 


genre  painter  and  enter  that  of  the  histor- 
ical painter;  and  his  success  in  some 
instances  has  been  truly  remarkable,  as  in 
The  Last  Muster,  and  The  Return  of  the 
Victors,  both  scenes  from  the  Tyrolese 
struggles  for  liberty.  It  was  indeed  a  his- 
torical picture  which  first  made  him  famous, 
Speckbacher  and  his  Son  Anderl.  This 
was,  however,  soon  followed  by  a  genre  pic- 
ture, A  Dance  at  the  Aim,  which  secured 


compulsion.  At  all  events  this  is  true  in 
relation  to  the  dimensions  of  the  picture, 
the  figures  being  life-size. 

Being  at  heart  a  religious  nature,  it  was 
not  surprising  that  he  should  also  venture 
into  the  field  of  religious  painting,  though  he 
did  so  with  questionable  success.  His  two 
Madonna's  do  not  add  materially,  if  at  all, 
to  his  reputation  ;  and  the  best  one  can  say 
is,  that  they  do  not  detract  from  it,   for  the 


6o6 


PAINTING  OF  THE  NINETEENTH 


pure,  lovable  nature  of  the  artist  is  reflected 
in  these  canvases  as  well  as  in  his  others. 
Though  Defregger's  art  is  essentially  of  the 
story-telling  kind,  it  is  free  from  the  empty 
pathos  of  the  reigning  historical  school,  and 
free,  also,  from  the  cheap  humor  of  the  earlier 
genre  painters.  When  it  is  mirthful,  it  is  so 
with  the  joyousness  of  exuberant  health, 
that  will  never  cease  to  find  a  ready  echo  in 
the  unsophisticated  soul  of  the  beholder, 
whatever  nationality  or  age  be  his. 


REALISM.— ADOLPH  MENZEL. 

■■■  "^  It  v.'as  in  the  year  1842  that  the 
paintings  of  two  Belgian  artists, 
Edouard  de  Biefve  and  Louis  Gallait,  were 
exhibited  in  the  various  German  art  centers, 
and,  b)-  virtue  of  their  iinwonted  realism 
and  coloristic  qualities  created  an  immense 
sensation.  For  some  time  artists  had  felt 
restless  under  the  sway  of  the  sickly  senti- 
mentality of  Dlisseklorf  and  the  pretentious 
painted  erudition  of  Munich  ;  nor  had  they 
found  in  the  ranks,  either  of  the  painters 
returning  from  Italy,  like  Riedel,  or  in  those 
from  the  Orient,  a  Moses  tC)  lead  them  out 
of  the  desert.  Now,  at  last,  salvation 
seemed  to  offer  by  way  of  Brussels  and 
Paris,  and  artists  began  to  flock  to  these 
two  strongholds  of  the  new  art. 

Neither  Biefve's  Treaty  of  the  Nobles  of 
the  Netherlands,  nor  Gallaifs  Abdication 
of  Charles  V.  will  to-day  pass  muster  as  true 
realistic  art;  but,  though  only  a  reflection 
of  the  stronger  genius  of  Paul  Delaroche, 
they  were  sufficient  to  point  out  the  road  to 
be  traveled,  and  have,  therefore,  become  of 
incalculable  value  to  the  further  develop- 
ment of  German  art. 

Among  the  first  who  were  induced  to  seek 
instruction  at  the  fountain  -  head  were 
Anselm  Feuerbach  (1829-1880)  and  Victor 
Miiller.  The  former  was,  by  his  nature  and 
education,  rooted  in  Classicism.  His  father 
was  a  noted  scholar  and  author,  whose  pro- 
found knowledge  of  ancient  history  could 
not  fail  to  impress  the  subtle  and  receptive 
mind  of  his  son  with  the  beauty  of  Greek 
art.     But  Feuerbach's  genius  could  not  be 


satisfied  with  form  alone ;  color  was  equally 
indispensable  for  the  full  expression  of  his 
refined  perception.  He  first  sought  instruc- 
tion in  art  at  Diisseldorf ;  but  nothing  could 
be  more  foreign  to  his  feeling  than  the 
sentimentality  of  the  Romanticists  or  the 
empty  prattle  of  the  anecdote  painters.  He 
left  Diisseldorf  unsatisfied,  and  went  to  one 
school  after  another  in  German)',  and  then  to 
Antwerp,  without  finding  what  he  desired. 
In  Paris  he  was  irresistably  attracted  by 
Couture,  whose  Romans  of  the  Decadence 
made  him  the  most  famous  painter  of  his 
time.  Here  he  learned  that  broad  and  free 
handling  of  the  brush,  so  utterly  at  variance 
with  the  art  of  the  rest  of  the  world. 
When,  some  years  later,  he  was  commis- 
sioned to  make  a  copy  of  Titian's  Assump- 
tion of  the  Virgin,  he  began  the  study  of 
the  old  Venetian  masters,  which  was  to  be 
of  such  incalculable  value  to  his  later  art. 
The  picture,  Hafiz  at  the  Well,  which  he 
painted  when  at  Paris,  commanded  instant 
attention;  but  the  full  charm  of  his  warm 
golden  tone  is  not  felt  until,  in  1857,  he 
painted  Dante  in  the  Company  of  Noble 
Ladies  of  Ravenna,  and  Dante's  Death, 
painted  in  the  following  year.  Among  the 
famous  pictures  of  the  Schack  Gallery  at 
Munich,  Feuerbach's  Pieta  is  one  of  the 
most  notable.  Nothing  can  be  inore  im- 
pressive than  the  quiet  dignity  of  Mary's 
grief,  as  she  is  bending  over  the  lifeless 
body  of  the  Savior,  and  the  three  women 
kneeling  by  her  side  in  silent  prayer. 

It  has  been  said  in  disparagement  of  Feu- 
erbach's art,  that  his  figures  are  motionless 
that  they  neither  laugh  nor  cry,  and  display 
no  passion.  That  is  true;  but  it  is  wrong  to 
blame  an  artist  for  the  absence  of  qualities 
which  he  studiously  avoids  and  refuse  him 
recognition  for  qualities  in  which  he  excels. 
The  chief  characteristics  of  Feuerbach's 
paintings  are  a  quiet  simplicity,  a  noble 
grandeur  of  line  and  form,  and,  in  his  best 
works,  the  charm  of  color.  In  his  later 
paintings  his  color  is  oftentimes  somewhat 
too  cool  and  grey,  probably  the  natural 
outcome  of  the  losing  fight  of  his  all  too- 
sensitive,  nervous  nature  against  prejudice 
and  folly,  that  withheld  the  recognition 
which  he   claimed,   and  justly  claimed,   for 


CENTURY  IN  GERMANY. 


607 


his  endeavors.  It  was  not  until  1873  that  he 
was  called  to  the  Academ)'  at  Vienna;  but 
here,  where  Makart  was  the  ruling  spirit. 
Feuerbach  was  bound  to  feel  out  of  place; 
his  art  was  entirely  too  somber  for  the 
atmosphere  of  the  gaj*  Austrian  capital,  and 
when  his  design  for  the  Fall  of  the  Titans 
met  with  scathing  criticism,  he  fled  to 
Venice,  where  he  remained  until  his  all  too 
early  death. 

Feuerbach's  strength  and  weakness  lay  in 
his  indomitable  belief  in  himself.  In  this 
respect  he  is  comparable  to  Richard  Wag- 
ner, who  had  the  advantage  of  being  allowed 
to  witness  the  triumph  of  his  art,  while 
Feuerbach's  recognition  came  after  his 
death.  "What  he  aspired  to  become,  and 
what  he  believed  himself  to  be,  we  learn 
from  his  book,  "A  Legacy."  However 
much  or  little  of  what  lie  there  has  to  say 
we  may  endorse,  his  position  in  the  art  of 
the  nineteenth  century  will  rest  secure  on 
such  works  as  his  Symposium  of  Plato, 
which,  though  undoubtedly  inspired  by 
Couture's  Romans  of  the  Decadence,  is 
superior  in  sentiment  and  far  nobler  in  con- 
ception ;  on  his  Pieta,  his  Iphigenia,  and  his 
Medea,  besides  the  works  already  men- 
tioned. (See  cut,  p.  579.)  An  artist  of  the 
people  he  never  was,  and  never  aspired  to 
be ;  his  was  an  aristocratic  nature,  born,  as 
he  himself,  asserts,  "for  the  palace,  and  not 
for  the  hut." 

Victor  Miiller  (1 829-1871),  joined  Cou- 
ture's class  in  1849,  after  he  had  vainly 
sought  instruction  at  the  Stiidel'sche  Insti- 
tut,"  in  his  native  city,  Frankfort,  and  at 
Antwerp,  under  Wappers,  where  so  many 
Germans  were  studying  at  the  time,  who  all, 
subsequently,  left  for  Paris.  When  Miiller 
became  disgusted  with  Antwerp  he  burned 
every  study  he  had  made  there  before  going 
to  Paris.  Here  he  felt  somewhat  lost  at 
first.  Going  to  work  in  Couture's  studio, 
he  nevertheless  finds  more  inspiration  in  the 
works  of  Delacroix  and  learns  to  admire 
Courbet.  After  nine  years  in  Paris  he  re- 
turned to  Frankfort,  where  he  painted, 
among  other  pictures,  a  Hero  and  Leander  a 
Wood-Nymph,  and  a  scene  from  Vii.tor 
Hugo's  "Les  Miserables" ;  but  he  found 
little  or  no  appreciation.     The  strength  and 


vigor  of  his  work,  its  deep,  rich  glow  of 
color,  were  so  utterly  at  variance  with  what 
was  characteristic  of  the  German  art  of  the 
perird,  that  artists  and  public  alike  stood 
helpless  before  his  canvases;  they  could  net 
be  refused  by  any  jury,  for  they  were  not 
bad;  but  they  were  hung  in  dark  and 
obscure  corners.  In  1865  he  left  Frankfcrt 
and  took  up  his  abode  in  Munich,  where  he 
met  Kaulbach,  Piloty,  Schwind  and  Baron 
Schack,  and  in  a  short  time  "finds  more 
appreciation  than  he  had  enjoyed  in  all  his 


HAMI.Kl.       Ml'LLER. 


lite  before,"  as  he  states  in  one  of  his  let- 
ters. He  then  entered  on  tlie  most  fruitful 
period  of  his  career.  Among  the  notable 
canvases,  he  produced  Faust's  Walk  on 
Eiaster-Morn,  remarkable  for  the  successful 
treatment  of  the  evening  effect  and  the 
happy  combination  of  landscape  and  figures. 
Soon  afterward  he  was  requested  to  con- 
tribute illustrations  of  Shakespear's  works 
for  a  publication  similar  m  character  to  the 
"Goethe-Gallery"  of  Kaulbach 's.  Declar- 
ing it  impossible  to  illustrate   Shakespeare 


6o8 


PAINTING  OF  THE  NINETEENTH 


in  the  same  manner,  he  proceeded  to  make 
designs  for  paintings,  three  of  which  he  was 
able  to  complete — the  rest  remaining  as 
sketches.  Hamlet  and  the  Gravedigger  was 
the  first  canvas,  to  be  followed  by  Ophelia, 
and  finally  by  the  strongest  of  his  coloristic 
achievements,  Romeo  and  Juliet,  a  picture 
fairly  aglow  with  passion.  Miiller  had  only 
fairly  entered  on  his  most  promising  career, 
when  heart  disease  ended  his  life. 

Of  the  other  German  pupils  of  Couture 
Rudolph  Henneberg  (1826-1876),  of  Berlin, 
achieved  deserved  renown.  The  most  im- 
portant of  his  pictures  are  The  Race  After 
Fortune,  The  Wild  Hunt,  The  Criminal 
through  Lost  Honor. 

Julius  Schrader  (1815-1900),  Otto  Knille 
(1832-1898),  Gustav  Richter  (1823-1884), 
are  prominent  among  this  group  of  artists 
who  returned  from  Paris,  well  equipped  in 
technical  acquirements,  and  ready  to  assist 
in  the  propagation  of  the  new  doctrine  of 
realistic  painting.  Schrader  is  a  historical 
painter  of  no  mean  abilit)',  and  such  pic- 
tures as  his  Death  of  Leonardo  da  Vinci, 
The  Dying  Milton,  and  Cromwell  at  White- 
hall, belong  to  the  better  of  their  class. 
Knille,  though  ambitious,  is  exceedingly 
correct  but  uninteresting  in  his  many  large 
mural  paintings,  while  Gustav  Richter 
became  a  favorite  painter  of  feminine 
beauty  and  will  be  long  remembered  as  the 
creator  of  the  ideal  portrait  of  Queen 
Louise,  for  which  the  baroness  Ziegler  was 
the  model.  His  best  works  are  probably 
the  portraits  of  his  wife  and  children,  while 
the  ambitious  large  canvases,  like  his  Build- 
ing of  the  Pyramids,  though  praised  as  color- 
istic achievements  in  their  time,  are  rather 
empty  and  theatrical  in  arrangement.  But 
then,  to  be  a  really  important  painter  of  this 
period,  it  was  necessary  to  be  a  historical 
painter.  The  French  and  Belgians  had  led 
the  way,  and  in  Germany  the  scientific  study 
of  history  had  entered  on  its  most  fruitful 
career.  As  early  as  1834  Schuaase  had 
described  historical  painting  as  "the  most 
pressing  demand  of  the  age,"  and  other 
writers  expressed  similar  sentiments.  Les- 
sing,  who  had  already  won  fame  as  Ger- 
many's great  landscapist,  was  induced, 
through  the  perusal  of   Menzel's  "History 


of  the  Germans,"  to  glorify  the  career  of 
Huss  in  a  painting  as  early  as  1836. 

One  of  the  most  remarkable  painters  of 
Germany — indeed  one  of  the  unique  and 
striking  individualities  in  nineteenth  cen- 
tury art,  is 

Adolph  Menzel,  who  was  born,  18 15,  at 
Breslau.  The  son  of  a  lithographer,  he 
went  to  Berlin  with  his  father,  and  worked 
in  this  profession.  From  the  beginning  he 
was  a  close  observer  of  nature,  and  nature 
remained  his  teacher  almost  exclusively 
throughout  his  long  and  fruitful  life.  He 
did  not  turn  to  oil  painting  until  compar- 
atively late,  occupying  himself  for  many 
years  almost  exclusively  with  drawing, 
either  on  stone  or  on  wood.  Notable  among 
his  early  lithographs  are  a  number  of  illus- 
trations of  the  history  of  Brandenburg  and 
his  Artist's  Earthly  Pilgrimage.  The  illus- 
trations of  the  history  of  Frederick  the 
Great,  and,  later,  those  of  the  works  of  this 
great  monarch,  secure  fcr  Menzel  an  impor- 
tant place  among  the  greatest  illustrators  of 
all  ages.  While  Cornelius  and  Kaulbach  on 
the  one  hand,  and  the  Diisseldorf  Roman- 
ticists on  the  other,  were  commanding  the 
attention  of  the  art  world,  Menzel  was  reso. 
lutely  treading  his  own  path,  a  keen  observer 
of  life  around  him,  a  realist  who  recognized 
no  law  or  principle  that  did  not  derive  its 
mandate  from  nature.  And  so  it  happens 
that  his  drawings  of  the  age  of  Frederick 
the  Great  present  such  vivid  pictures,  ap- 
pear so  true  and  convincing,  as  though  the 
artist  had  been  an  eye-witness  of  the  scenes 
he  portrayed.  His  preparatory  studies  are 
marvels  of  exactness  and  completeness, 
while  the  finished  work  shows  a  breadth  and 
freedom  of  handling  at  first  sight  quite 
contradictory  of,  but  in  truth,  only  possible 
through  such  careful  preparation.  When 
he  began  to  paint,  his  interest  in  the  great 
king  was  still  uppermost  in  his  mind,  and 
he  produced  a  number  of  canvases,  among 
which  The  Round  Table  at  Sans-Souci, 
Flute  Concert  at  the  Court,  King  Frederick 
on  His  Travels,  and  the  Battle  at  Hoch- 
kirch,  are  the  most  important. 

But  with  the  accession  of  William  L  to 
the  throne  of  Prussia  in  1861  a  new  spirit 
began   to   reign.      Menzel's   art   also   soon 


■^ 

* 


CENTURY  IN  GERMANY. 


609 


turned  into  a  new  channel.     Commisioned 
to    paint    the    coronation    of    the     King   at 
Konigsberg,    he   produced   a  picture   of  re- 
markable force  and  realism.     And  with  this 
he  may  be  said  to  have  left  the  field  of  his- 
torical painting,  the  two  smaller  canvases. 
King  William   Leaving  Berlin,  1870,  to  Join 
the    Army   at    the    Front,    and    the    Cercle, 
showing  Emperor  William  in  a  social  func- 
tion,   being   the    exceptions.     At   the    Paris 
Fair   in    1867    he    became    acquainted    with 
Meissonier,  whose  portrait  he  painted,  and 
with  Alfred  Stevens.      He  discovered  no  end 
of  material  in  the  life  around  him  which  ap- 
pealed to  his  artistic  sense,  and  painted  a 
number  of  scenes  in  the  streets  and  parks 
of  Paris.     During  his  frequent  trips  to  the 
southern    parts    of     Germany    he    became 
acquainted  with  the  picturesque  life  of  the 
Bavarian    highland    villages,    which    served 
him  for  numerous  drawings  and  paintings. 
Quaint  old  church  interiors,  especially  those 
of   the   Rococo   period,  with  their  rich  and 
fantastic    gilt    ornamentation,    had   a   great 
attraction   for  him.      The   busy,    variegated 
life  of  an   Italian  market-place   (Piazzo  de' 
Erbe,     Verona),    of    the    famous    watering 
places,  parks,  etc.,  fashionable  salons  (The 
Ball  Supper),  and  the  sooty,  grimy  interior 
of  a  highland  smithy — all  are  made  to  serve 
his   purpose   and   display   their   picturesque 
qualities  under  the  marvelous  touch  of  his 
never-resting  hands.      The    masterpiece  of 
the  painting-  of  toiling  humanity  is  unques- 
tionably Menzel's  Rolling  Mill,  which  was 
finished  in  1S75,  after  three  years  of  carefii] 
preparation  and  study.      (See  cut,  p.  578.) 

There  is  scarcely  a  scene  of  human 
activity,  scarcely  a  vocation,  that  Menzel 
has  not  included  in  his  sphere  of  observation 
and  rendered  with  inimitable  skill,  either 
as  painter,  draughtsman  or  etcher.  And  all 
this  he  does  without  ever  betraying  any 
foreign  influence,  either  of  old  or  modern 
masters.  He  was  a  staunch  realist  before 
the  French  and  Belgians  had  become  known 
in  Germany  through  the  works  of  Biefve 
and  Gallait,  which  were  destined  to  revolu- 
tionize German  art  under  the  direction  of 
Piloty.  That  Menzel  should  have  remained 
without  any  great  influence  upon  the  mod- 
ern   painting  of    Germany,    in   spite  of   his 


strong  individuality,  so  typical  of  what  art 
was  to  become,  seems  almostly  incredible. 
But  it  is  certainly  true  that  he  did  not 
"found  a  school."  Almost  from  the  be- 
ginning he  was  ahead  of  his  time,  with  no 
one  seriously  attempting  to  follow  him ;  but 
when  artists  really  began  to  comprehend 
him,  they  also  began  to  discover  paths 
parallel  to  his,  affording  even  a  broader 
vision  than  his  own.  Thus  it  will  be  seen 
that  it  was  possible  for  painting  to  advance 
at  the  end  of  the  century  to  a  commanding 
position  without  Menzel's  direct  influence, 
though  it  would  be  false  to  say  that  he  had 
none  at  all.  His  remarkable  power  of  char- 
acterization goes  far  beyond  that  of  Knaus; 
his  quick  eye  caught  the  movements  of  man 
and  animals  with  the  unerring  certainty  of 
the  photographic  camera;  in  composition  he 
discards  the  conventional  academical  rules 
and  follows  his  own  natural  feeling,  just  as 
in  choice  of  saibjects  he  is  guided  solely  by 
his  eye  for  the  picturesque  and  character- 
istic— all  of  which  are  qualities  that  consti- 
tute important  acquirements  of  modern  art 
and  which  he  had  made  his  own  in  advance 
of  the  later  i;eneration.  Without  denying 
that  his  influence  was  neither  forceful  nor 
direct,  its  presence  as  a  strong  undercurrent 
in  the  advance  movement  is  certainly 
clearly  discernible,  and  Menzel's  position  as 
a  pathfinder  rests  on  indisputable  evidence. 


H 


ISTORICAL       PAINTING: 
PILOTY,   MAKART,   MAX.  (13) 


But  the  palmy  days  of  history- 
painting  begin  with  Carl  v. 
Piloty  (1826-1886).  The  son  of  a  famous 
lithographer  in  Munich  he  received  his  early 
training  in  art  in  his  father^s  establishment, 
where  he  made  numerous  drawings,  after 
the  works  of  the  old  masters,  on  stone  for 
reproduction.  After  studying  at  the  Acad- 
emy for  a  while,  he  proceeded  to  Antwerp, 
and  in  1852  to  Paris,  where  he  entered  the 
studio  of  Paul  Delaroche.  Here  he  learned 
to  master  the  technical  requirements  cf 
painting,  and  found  the  best  opportunity  for 
developing  his  natural  feeling  for  color. 
Through  his  painting,  Seni  at  the  Corpse  of 


6  lo 


PAINTING  OF  THE  NINETEENTH 


Wallenstein,  he  secured  for  himself  at  once 
the  distinction  of  being  considered  the  best 
painter  of  Germany.  The  picture  marks 
an  era  in  German  art.  What  the  works  of 
Biefve  and  Gallait  had  promised,  here 
seemed  to  be  accomplished.  Nothing  so 
near  to  perfection  in  the  rendering  of  the 
very  texture  of  flesh,  drapery,  metal  and 
wood,  or  the  startling  truth  of  the  effect  of 
the  cold  morning  light  entering  the  death 
chamber  had  ever  been  seen  in  Germany. 
Here  then,  was  the  German  "Sophocles  of 
Painting,"  whom  the  artists'  colony  at  Ant- 
werp had  been  looking  for,  as  Victor  Mliller 
had  put  it. 

Piloty  was  made  professor  of  historical 
painting  at  Munich,  and  pupils  soon  began 
flocking  to  his  studio  from  far  and  near. 
He  proved  himself  an  admirable,  a  great 
teacher.  Not  only  did  he  succeed  in  teach- 
ing his  pupils  how  to  paint,  bat  he  was  care, 
ful  to  develop  their  various  talents  along 
independent  lines.  Nothing  could  be  more 
unlike  than  the  art  of  Makart  and  Max,  for 


instance,  and  yet  they  both  owe  their  train- 
ing in  technical  skill  to  the  same  master. 
Pilotv  became  the  ruling  spirit  in  Munich, 
in  Germany;  from  a  school  of  cartoon-draw- 
ing under  Cornelius  and  Kaulbach,  Munich 
became  the  leading  school  of  painting,  and 
Diisseldorf  fell  back  to  the  rear.  That 
Piloty  saw  himself  outdistanced  by  more 
than  one  of  his  own  pupils  in  his  lifetime,  is 
nothing  to  his  discredit;  on  the  contrary,  it 
proves  his  singular  greatness  as  a  teacher. 
If  to-day  we  cannot  consider  his  art  as  great 
painting,  it  was,  nevertheless,  great  in  its 
day,  marking  an  advance  and  laying  a  foun- 
dation, solid  and  broad,  upon  which  it 
became  possible  to  build  further.  As  a 
painter  pure  and  simple  he  does  not  rank 
with  Feuerbach  or  Victor  Miiller,  neither  of 
whom  can  boast  of  his  far-reaching  influ- 
ence. As  a  reformer  he  was  a  practical 
genius  who  brought  his  doctrine  home  to 
people.  If  he  did  not  expand  in  his  own 
art,  that  is  probably  what  few  great  teachers 
do.     Fully  conscious  of  his  powers,  he  was 


jiy  f>Ci  mission  of  Franz  Han/staengL 

THUSNELDA    I.V   THi;   TRIUMPHAl,    PROCRSSION    OF   GERMANICI'S.       PILOTV. 


CENTURY  IN  GERMANY. 


6n 


indeed  also  aware  of  liis  limitations,  and 
was  never  quite  satisfied  with  his  own  work. 
At  the  same  time  he  was  justly  proud  of  his 
pupils'  superior  abilities  and  knew  no 
envy. 

Piloty  treated  a  variety  of  subjects,  nearly 
all  taken  from  history.  Wallenstein  was  a 
favorite  theme.  But  it  was  not  only  (Ger- 
man history  which  furnished  the  subjects  for 
his  pictures;  the  French  Revolution,  Henry 
VIII.  of  England,  Venice,  Columbus, 
Rome  and  the  Bilile,  were  likewise  resorted 
to.  His  last  picture,  finished  after  his 
death,  by  his  brother  Ferdinand,  repre- 
sented The  Deatli  of  Alexander  the  Great, 
and  shows  unmistakable  traces  of  the  artist's 
failing  powers.  His  most  ambitious  picture, 
painted  at  the  height  of  his  fame  is  Thus- 
nelda  in  tiie  Triumphal  Procession  of  Ger- 
manicus.  Soon  after  the  completion  of 
this,  he  received  a  commission  to  paint  a 
large  decorative  picture  for  the  new  city- 
hall  at  ^lunieh.  The  center  of  the  canvas 
is  occupied  by  the  allegorical  figure  of  Mon- 
achia,  while  to  the  right' and  left  are  grouped 
the  men  and  women  of  Munich  who  had  at 
one  time  or  another  distinguished  them- 
selves in  the  city's  history.  The  picture 
was  painted  largely  with  the  assistmce  of 
his  pupils,  some  of  whom  were  very  close 
followers  of  his  technical  methods,  notably 
the  Hungarian  Benczur,  who,  in  his  ear- 
lier works  especially,  resembled  Piloty's 
manner  of  painting  most  strikingly.  But 
Piloty's  fame  as  a  teacher  does  not  rest 
on  the  works  of  his  close  imitators.  His 
four  greatest  pupils:  Makart,  Lenbach, 
Defregger,  Max,  are  all  unlike  each  other, 
and  unlike  their  master  in  nearly  every 
respect. 

The  most  brilliant,  as  it  was  also  the  most 
short-lived  career,  was  that  of  the  Austrian 
Hans  Makart  (1840-1884).  Makart  was  a 
colorist.  It  is  not  likely  that  posterity  will 
accord  him  any  commanding  position  as 
such,  for  posterity  will  have  little  else  than 
hearsay  evidence  from  which  to  form  a  con- 
clusion, since  that  qualit)' of  Makart's  paint- 
ings upon  which  such  claim  rests,  will  soon 
have  disappeared  entirely ;  it  is  already  little 
more  than  a  memory  with  those  who  have 
seen   the  works  grow   under   the   master's 


hands.  In  his  eagerness  to  produce  the 
most  brilliant  color  effects,  Makart  was 
totally  indifferent  to  the  chemical  properties 
of  the  pigments  he  employed;  bitumen  and 
certain  red  and  green  lakes  were  his  favor- 
ites, owing  to  their  deep,  rich  quality  of 
color.  They  are  the  most  unstable  of  pig- 
ments, and  have  long  vanished  from  the 
palettes  of  conscientious  artists,  after  hav- 
ing had  a  short  but  disastrous  reign 
Makart  completely  conquered  the  public  by 
his  remarkable  works:  The  Pest  of  Flor- 
ence, and  the  Modern  Amorettes,  in  which 
he  first  reveled  in  his  delight  of  color  and 
niidity  to  his  heart's  content. 

Makart  lived  entirely  in  the  realm  of 
color;  whatever  subject  he  chose,  it  was 
jirimarily,  if  not  solely,  for  the  purpose  of 
making  it  a  vehicle  for  the  display  of  some 
color  scheme ;  form  was  a  matter  of  secon- 
dary consideration  ;  and,  as  for  characteriza- 
tion, that  great  achievement  of  the  post- 
Romantic  period  in  German  art,  that  is 
entirely  absent  from  M.ikart's  work.  Thus 
as  a  portrait  painter  he  fails  utterly;  when 
he  can  drape  his  sitter  in  the  rich  costume 
of  the  Renaissance  period,  his  decorative 
taste  is  satisfied.  Even  in  painting  the 
nude,  whi^h  he  did  very  extensively,  his 
figures  are  chiefly  emi)loyed  for  the  sake  of 
some  color  note.  America  j^ossesses,  at  the 
Metropolitan  Museum  of  Art,  one  of  his 
most  characteristic  works,  Diana's  Hunting 
Party.  Makart's  art  is  essentially  decorative 
and  spectacular;  his  sensuous  delight  in 
color  makes  him  iin questionably  the  most 
remarkable  painter  of  the  century;  but  his 
influence  was  not  of  a  lasting  kind. 
Although  called  to  be  head  of  the  Vienna 
Academy,  he  founded  no  school  of  painting, 
a  few  early  imitators  soon  turning  from  his 
path.  The  emperor's  silver  jubilee  gave 
M:\kart  an  opportunity  tj  display  his  rare 
talent  in  organizing  the  grand  spectacular 
feature  of  the  occasion,  a  procession  in  the 
character  of  the  Renaissance  period.  Elim- 
inating the  nude  maidens  strewing  flowers, 
his  painting  of  The  Entry  of  Charles  V. 
into  Antwerp  (see  cut,  p.  57),  will  give  a 
fair  idea  of  the  splendor  of  this  memorable 
procession,  whch  is  justly  counted  among 
Makart's  famous  productions. 


6l2 


PAINTING  OF  THE  NINETEENTH 


From  the  dazzling  splendor  of  Makart's 
art  to  the  refined  sensitiveness  of  Gabriel 
Max,  (1840-)  what  a  difference!  And  yet  both 
enter  the  world  of  art  through  Piloty 's  studio. 
The  temperament  of  Max  is  dreamy, 
spiritual  and  stronglj'  leaning  to  the  un- 
healthful,  while  joyous,  robust  life  is  en- 
tirely foreign  to  him.  His  sympathy  is 
v/ith  the  spiritually  morbid,  whose  joy  of 
life  is  not  of  this  world,  and  the  early 
Christian  martyr  is  a  favorite  subject  for 
his  brush.      He  scored  his  first  pronounced 


MADONNA.       MAX. 


success  with  his  Martyr  on  the  Cross,  in 
1867.  It  represents  a  young  woman,  an 
early  Christian,  tied  to  a  cross  in  the  Cam- 
pagna;  a  young  Roman,  struck  by  the  sad 
fate  of  the  beautiful  girl,  kneels  down  to 
place  a  wreath  of  roses  at  the  feet  of  the 
pure,  heroic  maiden,  who  would  rather 
suffer  a  horrible  death  than  renounce  her 
faith.  Is  he  converted?  Or  is  he,  the  light- 
hearted,  pleasure-seeking,  frivolous  Roman, 
only  attracted  by  the  strange  fascination  of 
the  unexpected  encounter?     Max  leaves  the 


questions  unanswered.  A  Token  represents 
another  young  Christian  convert,  turned 
into  the  arena  where  she  will  soon  be  torn 
to  pieces  by  the  hungry  wild  beasts.  A 
rose  has  fallen  to  her  feet,  thrown  as  a 
last  token  of  sympathy  or  love  by  some 
unknown  hand  in  the  crowded  galleries 
above.  German  poetry  furnishes  the  subject 
for  his  Lion's  Bride,  and  the  Inn-keeper's 
Daughter.  The  tender,  musical  charm  of 
his  art  finds  most  beautiful  expression  in 
such  pictures  as  his  Adagio:  two  figures — a 
mother  and  her  son — ^are  seated  on  a  bench 
in  a  quiet  spring  landscape,  both  gazing 
into  space,  all  unconscious  of  each  other 
apparently,  dreamily  feeling  only  the  ten- 
der awakening  of  nature  from  its  winter- 
sleep.  It  is  not  often  that  Max  repre- 
sents this  mood  of  quiet  pleasure;  and 
it  is  as  near  to  a  healthy  enjoyment  of 
nature  as  he  ever  comes.  He  feels  at 
home  in  the  sad  and  horrible,  and  in  the 
supernatural ;  and  has  discovered  a  new  field 
for  art,  the  spiritualist's  world.  In  the  paint- 
ing entitled  The  Spirit's  Greeting,  he  rep- 
resents a  young  girl  seated  at  the  piano;  a 
"materialized"  hand  softly  taps  heron  the 
shoulder  and  with  an  expression  of  mingled 
fright  and  awe  she  turns  to  gaze  in  the 
direction  where  the  head  of  the  strange 
apparition  would  be.  In  another  picture  he 
takes  sides  in  the  controversy  about  vivisec- 
tion. The  cold-blooded  man  of  science  is 
about  to  experiment  on  the  body  of  a  little 
dog,  which  is  taken  from  his  hands  by  a 
figure  representing  the  spirit  of  pity, point- 
ing to  the  scales  she  holds,  in  which  the 
heart  is  shown  to  outweigh  the  human  in- 
tellect. 

Max  is  possessed  of  one  ideal  of  feminine 
beauty,  which  is  repeated  in  all  his  pictures: 
a  delicate  face  with  a  small,  peculiarly 
rounded  nose,  characteristic  of  Bohemia, 
his  native  country,  with  one  eye  slightly 
larger  than  the  other,  by  which  that  expres- 
sion of  the  unreal,  the  spiritualistic,  is 
attainable.  The  color  is  almost  always 
that  of  an  unhealthy  pallor.  Max  avoids 
strong  color  altogether,  and  empIo)'s  charm- 
ingly refined  grey  tones,  in  a  manner  never 
befure  or  since  attempted ;  it  would  seem  to 
suit  his  peculiar  art  alone,   which,  being  the 


CENTURY  IN  GERMANY. 


613 


expression  of  his  own  remarkable  person- 
ality, could  not  be  adopted  by  any  one  else 
with  impunity. 


By  pi-t^misiion  of  F.  fla*t/stacrtgl. 

SrlRIT'S    C.KEETINt;. 


L 


ENBACH.  —  THE    PAINTERS    OF 
MODERN   LIFE.  (14) 


Franz  v.  Lenbach,  (born  1836),  is 
one  of  the  commanding  figures  in 
nineteenth  century  art.  Known  best  to  our 
days  as  a  portrait  painter,  he  has,  neverthe- 
less, claims  on  our  attention  in  another 
capacity.  Lenbach,  the  ardent  and  most 
enthusiastic  student  of  the  old  masters,  is 
one  of  the  first  healthy  realists  who  pointed 
out  to  German  artists  where  to  seek  their 
salvation,  in  the  intimate,  loving  study  of 
nature  without  any  afterthought  of  his- 
torical rhetoric  or  anecdotal  recitation. 
The  sphere  of  art  is  representation.  And 
to  this  he  devoted  the  earlier  years  of  his 
study.  In  the  j'ear  1856  he  exhibited  the 
picture,  now  in  the  Schack  Gallery,  A  Shep- 
herd Boy.  It  represents  a  country  lad  lying 
on   his  back,   with  the   sun   pouring   down 


upon  him.  There  is  no  attempt  at  beautify 
ing;  the  figure  is  a  ragged  shepherd  boy, 
with  tlie  mud  clinging  to  his  bare  legs, 
everything  rendered  with  straightforward, 
honest  truth.  The  following  year  appeared 
his  Threatening  vStorm,  which  shows  a 
group  of  peasants  hastening  from  the  har- 
vest field  to  take  refuge  in  a  chapel  before 
the  storm  breaks  loose.  Both  pictures  cre- 
ated a  sensation  and  the  public,  as  well  as 
the  professional  critics,  were  loud  in  their 
protest  against  this  "brutal  realism."  Still, 
Lenbach  persisted  in  his  close  study  of 
nature,  and  hand  in  hand  with  it,  went  his 
ecjually  close  study  of  the  old  masters. 
Fur  Baron  Schack  he  made  a  number  of 
copies  of  old  masters,  among  which  that  of 
Titian's  Venus  and  several  by  Velasquez 
an  1  Rubens  are  marvels  in  copying.  Fi- 
na'ly  he  found  his  true  vocation  as  a  portrait 
painter.  Equipped  with  a  thorough  knowl- 
edge of  the  technical  reciuirements  of  his 
art,  a  close  observation  of  nature,  and  a 
Sjiirit  akin  to  the  great  masters  of  old,  he 
was  prepared  for  his  calling  as  was  no  one 
else. 

Lenbach  is  not  a  portraitist  who  is  sat- 
isfied to  give  the  mere  photographic  out- 
ward appearance  of  his  chance  sitters.  He 
prepares  himself  for  his  work  by  a  close 
study  of  the  sitter's  essential  characteristics, 
and  by  the  aid  of  numerous  sketches  records 
his  impressions.  Nor  does  he  disdain  to 
use  the  photograph;  not.  however,  as  a 
foundation  for  his  work,  but  merely  as  one 
of  the  convenient  aids.  Not  any  of  Len- 
bach's  portraits  suggests  the  photograph  in 
the  least.  What  they  all  reveal  is  that  truth 
of  inner  life  which  only  tiie  artist  who 
comprehends  his  sitter  can  hope  to  reproduce. 
Of  portraits  which  he  did  not  care  to  do 
there  are  not  very  many;  for  even  when  he 
was  still  poor  he  preferred  to  paint  for  noth- 
ing a  head  that  would  interest  him  rather 
than  accept  a  commission  from  a  prospec- 
tive patron  for  whom  he  felt  no  liking. 
Since  he  has  come  to  enjoy  a  liberal  income 
from  his  work,  he  not  infrequently  spends 
thousands  for  the  privilege  of  painting  some 
interesting  personage  for  his  own  artistic 
satisfaction.  Lenbach  has  been  called  upon 
to  paint  more  of  the  most  noted  men  of  his 


6i4 


PAINTING  OF  THE  NINETEENTH 


time  in  the  various  callings  of  rulers,  states- 
men, scholars,  poets,  artists,  and  so  forth, 
than  any  other  artist,  living  or  dead.  For 
none  of  his  sitters  has  he  ever  shown 
greater  love  and  admiration  than  for  Bis- 
marck, and  of  no  one  has  he  painted  more 
portaits  than  of  the  Iron  Chancellor,  at 
whose  home  he  was  a  frequent  and  most 
welcome  guest.  Though  Bismarck  has  been 
painted  by  many  artists,  no  one  has  suc- 
ceeded as  Lenbach  in  grasping  that  mighty 
character,  whom  Germany  delights  to  honor 
as  the  greatest  statesman  of  the  nineteenth 


PORTRAIT    OF    BISMARCK. 


century.  Lenbach's  last  portrait  of  the  old 
Emperor  William  I.  is  a  wonderful  piece  of 
characterization  of  old  age,  reflecting  a  great 
and  glorious  past. 

An  artist  of  Lenbach's  singular  abilities 
as  a  painter  is  necessarily  a  man  of  strong 
convictions  in  art  generally,  and  born  to 
take  a  leading  part  in  any  movement  in 
which  he  is  interested.  To  Lenbach,  paint- 
ing should  not  be  kept  in  isolation  from  its 
twin  sisters,  architecture  and  sculpture. 
Painting  finds  a  proper  place  only  in  a  suit- 
able artistic  surrounding.      Especially  is  he 


averse  to  the  arranging  of  great  exhibitions, 
where  the  main  object  is  to  gather  the 
greatest  possible  number  of  paintings  on 
"square  miles"  of  wall  space,  irrespective 
of  any  pleasing  decorative  effect.  Though 
at  the  great  Munich  International  Exhibi- 
tions this  is  always  taken  into  account  with 
far  better  results  than  in  large  exhibitions 
elsewhere,  Lenbach's  ideas  were  never 
fully  carried  out,  except  in  smaller  apart- 
ments set  aside  for  his  special  display,  and 
the  result  is  alvv^ays  eminently  pleasing. 
When  he  decided  on  building  a  home  for 
himself,  he  created  something  that  is  a 
magnificent  work  of  art  in  itself,  and  in 
which  he  carried  out  his  ideas,  with  the 
architectural  advice  of  his  friend  Gabriel 
Seidel,  to  their  fullest  extent. 

The  Villa  Lenbach  on  the  Louisenstrasse 
in  Munich  is  a  noteworthy  creation,  within 
and  without,  and  whoever  has  not  seen  it 
cannot  form  a  just  estimate  of  this  truly 
great  artist.  Built  in  the  style  of  a  Roman 
villa,  with  a  garden  in  which  an  old  Italian 
fountain  and  other  antique  statuary  have 
found  a  place,  the  interior  of  the  two 
detached  buildings  is  arranged  with  refined 
taste  and  due  consideration  of  purpose. 
The  rare  treasures  of  old  pictures,  antique 
furniture,  old  marbles  and  other  works  of 
artistic  value,  which  he  has  collected  with 
true  judgment,  all  serve  to  give  to  the  place 
an  air  of  noble  and  quiet  refinement,  so 
different  from  the  overcrowded  habitation 
of  the  average  collector  addicted  to  "brica- 
bracomania."  And  in  this  refined  sur- 
rounding, made  gay  by  the  merry  laughter 
of  two  lovely  children  and  presided  over 
with  sweet  dignity  by  a  charming  wife, 
Lenbach  lives  and  works. 

The  painting  of  pictures  illustrative  of 
modern  life,  with  either  a  humorous, 
pathetic  or  tragic  idea,  was  most  succesfully 
continued  by  such  artists  as  Alois  Gabl 
(1845-1893),  who  was  fond  of  deep  coloring, 
at  times  verging  on  black;  and  Mathias 
Schmidt  (1835-)  who  found  his  subjects 
among  the  Tyrolese;  Hugo  Kaufmann 
(1844-)  who,  though  himself  a  North- 
German,  is  fond  of  the  inhabitants  of  the 
Bavarian  Highlands;  and  Eduard  Kurz- 
bauer   (1840-1879),  who  died  too  young,  but 


CENTURY  IN  GERMANY 


6'5 


gave  promise  of  good  work.  Eduard 
Griitzner  (1S46-),  whose  first  success  was 
achieved  through  his  Falstaff  pictures, 
ultimately  became  the  narrator  of  monastery 
life,  in  which  he  foimd  an  inexhaustible 
storehouse  of  mostly  humorous  anecdotes, 
which  he  repeats  ad  nauseam. 

A  more  healthful  and  no  less  grateful  field 
for  pictorial  art  was  cultivated  by  Ludwig 
Bockelmann  {1844-1897)  and  Ferdinand 
Briitt  (1849-)  who  found  in  commercial 
and  manufacturing  circles  the  material  for 
their  stories.  Bockelmann  painted  episodes 
from  modern  city  life;  Briitt  chooses  his  sub- 
jects from  the  social,  commercial  and  politi- 
cal life  of  the  city. 

Realism  had  become  firmly  rooted  in 
German  art.  If,  in  the  school  of  Piloty,  it 
partook  strongly  of  theatrical  show,  and 
cultivated  a  tendency  for  the  painting  of  his- 
torical events  most  frequently  of  a  tragic 
nature,  and  led  others  to  an  almost  photo- 
graphic imitation  of  more  or  less  uninterest- 
ing subjects,  as  it  did  Carl  Qussow  (iS43-)of 
Berlin,  for  example,  and  Anton  v.  Werner, 
(1843-)  whose  historical  paintings  are  so 
markedly  "matter  of  fact";  it  had  at  least 
led  also  to  a  renewed  and  more  intelligent 
study  of  the  old  masters  for  their  marvelous 
color  qualities,  which  had  been  so  studiously 
avoided  by  the  cartoonists,  and  totally  mis- 
understood by  the  early  Romanticists. 
When,  after  the  unification  of  Germany  in 
1 87 1,  history-painting  failed  more  and  more 
to  inspire  artists  for  their  best  efforts,  they 
awakened  to  the  conviction  tliat  above  all  a 
painter  should  learn  \.o paint  before  attempt- 
ing to  give  expression   to  any  great  ideas. 

The  "idea,"  in  fact,  was  for  a  while  entire- 
ly discredited,  the  chief  problem  remaining 
ho-iV  to  paint.  "To  jjaint,"  was  at  last 
understood  to  mean  both  technical  skill  and 
the  creation  of  glorious  color-harmonies  such 
as  the  old  masters  had  produced.  That  all 
this  was  foimded  on  a  study  of  nature  on 
the  part  of  the  old  masters  was  now  recog- 
nized to  mean  a  still  closer  and  directer 
study  of  life  and  nature,  generally,  than  had 
been  practiced  in  the  first  half  of  the  cen- 
tury. The  demand  was  for  greater  refine- 
ment of  tone,  and,  hand  in  hand,  went  an 
avoidance  of  the   clap-trap  of  noisy  stage- 


acting.  Together  with  the  new  doctrine  in 
painting  there  grew  a  desire  for  artistically 
refined  furnishings;  the  arts  and  crafts  as- 
sumed a  more  intimate  relation  and  men  of 
genius  like  Lorenz  Gedon  brought  about  an 
intimate  knowledge  of  the  works  of  the 
"little  masters"  of  the  Renaissance  period, 
which  were  eagerly  collected  and  served  as 
models  for  the  works  of  the  cabinetmakers, 
goldsmiths  and  other  craftsmen.  The 
Munich  exhibition  of  1876  showed  a  remark- 
able gain  in  the  artistic  skill  displayed  in 
handicraft,  which,  for  the  time  being,  was 
almost  exclusively  imitative  of  bygone 
periods,  but  has  since  developed  along  more 
modern  and  original  lines. 


D 


lEZ  AND  THE    NEW    SCHOOL 
OF  COLORISTS.     LEIBL.(i5) 


The  new  school  of  painters  found 
in  Wilhelm  Diez  (1839-)  its 
foremost  representative.  Though  for  a  short 
time  a  pupil  of  Piloty,  he  found  himself 
entirely  out  of  sympathy  with  the  great  mas- 
ter of  historical  painting.  His  taste  led  him  to 
a  close  study  of  the  works  of  such  old  masters 
as  Schongauer,  Diirer,  Rembrandt  and  espe- 
cially Wouwerman,  as  well  as  a  most  loving 
study  of  nature.  Tlie  charm  of  Diez's  work 
lies  in  a  healthy  realism  coupled  with  a  re- 
finement of  tone  that  has  something  of  the 
quality  of  old  tapestries,  and  an  unerring 
feeling  for  the  picturescjue.  Like  all  suc- 
cessful artists  he  found  numerous  imitators 
among  a  large  class  of  talented  pupils,  after 
he  had  been  made  professor  at  the  Academy 
in  Munich.  It  was  certainly  not  his  fault  if 
many  saw  their  own  salvation,  if  not  that  of 
art,  only  in  a  close  adherence  to  his  choice 
of  subject  and  manner  of  treatment;  for 
men  of  power  and  originality  of  thought  are 
ever  scarce.  None  the  less  does  Diez  num- 
ber among  his  pupils  some — Loefftz  for 
instance — who  have  been  able  to  draw  from 
his  teachings  the  lessons  which  promoted  a 
further  advance  in  art. 

Ludwig  Loefftz  (1845-),  who  was  a 
decorator  in  his  youth,  by  virtue  of  a  serious 
and  untiring  devotion  to  his  study,  has  risen 
to  the  position  of  Director  of  the  Munich 


6i6 


PAINTING  OF  THE  NINETEENTH 


Academy,  from  which  he  has  only  recently 
retired  on  account  of  impaired  health.  At 
the  beginning  of  his  career  as  a  painter  he 
was  an  ardent  admirer  of  the  old  Dutch- 
men, to  such  an  extent,  in  fact,  that  his 
painting  of  Avarice  and  Love  is  little  else 
than  a  close  imitation  of  Quentin  Matsys. 
Then  Holbein  became  his  favorite  ideal,  and 
there  was  a  time  during  his  early  activity 
as  teacher  when  the  portrait  drawings  by  his 
pupils  were  all  in  close  imitation  of  the 
great  Augsburg  master.  About  that  time 
Loefftz  painted  a  small  picture  represent- 
ing Erasmus  of  Rotterdam  in  his  study, 
which  seemed  a  combination  of  Holbein 
and  Pieter  de  Hoegh.  Later  the  coloristic 
charm  of  Van  Dyck  assumed  a  strong  influ- 
ence on  him  and  there  resulted  such  remark- 
able paintings  as  his  Pieta,  now  in  the 
Pinakothek.  With  his  students  he  insisted 
always  upon  the  careful  observation  of  the 
fine  color  and  tone  qualities  in  nature,  and 
took  no  end  of  trouble  in  posing  the  models 
for  them  in  such  a  light  as  to  preclude  all 
appearance  of  crudeness,  of  which  he  was 
especially  intolerant.  vStill  engaged  in  his 
work  as  teacher,  it  is  too  early  to  determine 
definitely  his  position  in  the  history  of  art; 
but  that  he  was  one  of  the  most  active  and 
invaluable  agents  in  laying  the  foundation 
for  the  final  success  of  modern  art,  there  can 
be  no  doubt  whatever.  Loefftz  was  also 
one  of  the  first  who  demonstrated  anew  that 
the  chief  value  of  a  painting  lay  not  in  the 
idea,  but  in  the  representation. 

"If  artists  had  previously  painted  thoughts 
they  now  began  to  paint  things.  The 
heroes  of  Piloty  followed  the  divinities  of 
Cornelius,  and  were  in  turn  succeeded  by 
the  Tyrolese  peasants  of  Defregger,  and 
amid  this  difference  of  theme  one  bond  con- 
nected these  works;  for  interesting  subject 
was  the  matter  of  chief  importance  in  them 
and  the  purely  pictorial  element  was  some- 
thing subordinate.  The  efforts  of  the  sev- 
enties had  for  their  object  the  victory  of 
this  pictorial  element."      (Muther). 

This  was  brought  about  by  Diez  and  his 
followers.  Beginning  with  the  renewed  and 
more  intimate  study  of  the  old  masters,  the 
picturesque  costumes  and  decorative  fea- 
tures of  past  centuries  were  «till  adhered  to ; 


but  the  pretentious  display  of  historical 
actions  gave  way  to  the  representation  of 
man  in  his  common  everyday  occupation, 
which  brought  him  nearer  to  our  sympathies 
and  understanding. 

August  Holmberg  (1851-)  paints  car- 
dinals who  are  connoisseurs  of  bric-a-brac. 
Edmund  Harburger  (1846-)  becomes  the 
Ostade  of  modern  times.  Ernst  Zimmer- 
mann  (1852-),  at  first  similarly  inclined, 
and  also  a  most  skillful  painter  of  still-life, 
turns  to  rendering  religious  subjects.  Claus 
Meyer  (1856-)  scores  a  decided  success 
with  the  painting  of  a  Beguin  Nunnery,  in 
which,  like  Pieter  de  Hoegh,  he  places  his 
models  against  the  large  window  in  the 
background. 

In  manysidedness  and  an  easy  control  of 
the  methods  employed  by  different  old  mas- 
ters, as  well  as  by  certain  cliic  all  his  own, 
all  the  foregoing  are  easily  eclipsed  by  Fritz 
August  v.  Kaulbach  (1850-),  a  grand- 
nephew  of  the  celebrated  pupil  of  Cornelius. 
This  artist  has  been  as  much  overrated  as 
underrated.  A  great  artist  he  cannot  be 
called,  because  of  his  want  of  originality. 
Where  he  is  unlike  anybody  else,  it  is  only 
in  comparatively  trivial  matters.  He  is 
most  thoroughly  enjoyable  in  some  of  hrs 
portraits  of  feminine  beauties;  by  virtue  of 
his  graceful  drawing  and  refined  tone  he 
could,  if  he  so  chose,  become  almost,  if  not 
quite,  what  Lenbach  is  as  a  portraitist  of 
men ;  for  it  must  be  acknowledged,  remark- 
able though  some  of  Lenbach's  later  por- 
traits of  women  are,  that  he  is  not  essentially 
a  painter  of  female  beauty,  or  of  children, 
in  both  of  which  Kaulbach  excels.  But  he 
is  not  satisfied  therewith  and  enters  the 
ranks  of  religious  painters  to  produce  an 
Entombment  of  Christ  that  at  once  recalls 
Titian  to  one's  mind,  though,  to  be  sure,  on 
closer  examination,  not  a  single  figure  is  like 
Titian's.  But  whatever  his  limitations, 
whatever  his  sources,  Kaulbach  is  an  artist 
of  refined  feeling,  whose  love  of  color  is  a 
delight  to  the  eye,  and  is  in  line  with  the 
progress  of  his  time  beyond  the  preceding 
period. 

When  the  prominent  historical  painters  of 
this  epoch  are  mentioned,  Wilhelm  Linden- 
schmidt  (1829-1895),  demands  a  conspicuous 


CENTURY  IN  GERMANY. 


617 


place.  Though  his  later  works  do  not  fulfill 
the  promise  contained  in  his  earlier  paint- 
ings, the  latter  have  undeniable  coloristic 
merits,  conspicuous  in  tiicir  time.  Tliis 
may  be  said  especially  of  some  of  his  Luther 
pictures  and  of  his  Venus  and  Adonis,  and 
also  of  his  painting  in  the  Schack  Gallery  of 
the  Young  Man  and  the  Water  Nymph.  As 
a  teacher  at  the  Munich  Academy  Linden- 
schmidt  encouraged  a  healthy  realism.  His 
ideas  on  govermental  art  education  were 
singularly  sound  and  liberal,  but  failed  to 
find  favor  with  the  authorities. 

Menzel,  in  Berlin,  in  his  paintings  of  the 
time  of  Frederick  the  Great,  treated  his- 
torical painting  as  one  who  seemed  to  have 
been  an  eye-witness.  Nor  does  he  care  so 
much  for  momentous  state  actions,  as  the 
leading  historical  painters  were  wont  to  do, 
but  delights  in  the  representation  of  cus- 
toms and  manners  of  that  then  not  so  very 
remote  period.  He  tells  no  anecdote  and 
attempts  no  moral  lesson;  he  is  simply 
truthful  and  picturesque.  These  qualities 
become  the  aim  of  Munich  art  after  Piloty. 

Wilhelm  LeibI  (1844-1901)  is  by  far  the 
strongest  representative,  if  not  the  initiator 
of  this  new  development  of  modern  German 
art.  A  pupil  of  Piloty  at  first  and  subsequent- 
ly of  A.  V.  Ramberg  (1819-1875)  neither  of 
whom  influenced  him  very  much,  he  showed 
his  strong  leanings  quite  early,  and  a  short 
stay  in  Paris  in  1869  did  not  draw  him  from 
the  course  he  appears  to  have  planned. 
Though  an  ardent  admirer  of  Courbet,  he 
remains  thoroughly  German,  and  comes 
nearer  to  the  spirit  of  Holbein  than  any 
other  artist.  Conscious  of  his  aim  and  of 
his  ability  to  pursue  it  without  further  help 
or  hindrance,  he  settled  in  a  Bavarian  vil- 
lage, where  he  devoted  himself  to  his  art, 
painting  the  simple  peasant  people  among 
whom  he  lived.  Leibl's  best  paintings 
betray  the  closest  attention  to  detail,  but  in 
such  a  manner  that  the  whole  at  first  always 
has  the  appearance  of  great  breadth ;  noth- 
ing of  all  the  marvelous  detail  is  ever 
obtrusive  at  first  sight,  though  when  once 
your  attention  is  drawn  to  it,  nothing  can 
make  you  forget  the  unrivaled  skill  with 
which  it  was  rendered.  But  at  times  he  is 
fond  of  a  broader  handling;  he  then  lays  on 


his  color  in  flat  tones  and  sacrifices  all  soft- 
ness of  modeling  to  a  strong  and  vigorous 
characterization  of  his  subject.  His  very 
first  pictures,  exhibited  in  1869,  commanded 
attention ;  a  portrait  exhibited  at  the  Salon 
in  Paris  in  1870  brought  him  a  medal;  and 
he  created  a  very  deep  impression  with  his 
Peasant-Politicans,  which  appeared  eight 
years  later.  By  this  time  Leibl  had  already 
become  an  acknowledged  leader,  and  when, 
a  year  or  two  later,  his  painting,  In  the 
Church  was  exhibited  in  a  private  studio  at 
r^Iunich,  it  was  the  unanimous  opinion  of 
artists  and  laymen  alike  that  the  highest 
perfection  in  this  style  of  painting  had  been 
achieved.  Without  ever  having  had  pupils, 
Leibl's  influence  became  a  factor  in  the 
further  development  of  Munich  art.  Though 
no  one  ventured  so  far  as  to  imitate  his 
marvelous  technic[ue,  the  appreciation  of 
the  simple  and  natural  in  art,  of  beautifully 
luminous,  pearly  greys  in  flesh-painting 
was  wide-spread  and  sincere,  and  Leibl  has 
gained  for  himself  the  position  of  one  of  the 
strongest  German  painters  of  the  century  in 
which  he  lived. 


T 


HE  IDEALISTS:  BOCKLIN.  RE- 
LIGIOUS PAINTING:  GEB- 
HARDT.(i6) 


With  Arnold  Bdcklin  (1827-1901), 
whose  death,  like  that  of  Leibl,  is  just  an- 
nounced, Germany  loses  her  greatest  painter 
of  the  nineteenth  century.  In  the  earlier 
stages  of  the  realistic  era  it  was  not  surpris- 
ing that  Bocklin's  art  did  not  meet  with 
ready  appreciation,  for  his  romantic  ideal- 
ism seemed  utterly  opposed  to  the  prevail- 
ing tendencj',  and  people  were  ready  to 
class  him  among  the  artista  of  the  past,  be- 
fore he  had  fairly  begun  his  career  in 
earnest.  It  was  only  in  later  years  that  his 
true  position  has  come  to  be  recognized, 
and  Germany  now  honors  in  him  the 
great  color-poet  of  the  century.  Bocklin  is 
an  artist  of  most  striking  originality,  whose 
development  is  not  really  traceable  to  the 
influence  of  any  definite  school.  Beginning 
his  studies  under  the  landscapist  Schirmer 
at   Diisseldorf  in    1846,   he  soon   thereafter 


6i8 


PAINTING  OF  THE  NINETEENTH 


went  to  Brussels,  and  then  to  Paris  in  1848. 
Two  years  later  he  went  to  Rome,  where  he 
found  the  true  inspiration  for  his  art.  In 
the  Campagna  and  in  the  mountains  he  com- 
muned with  Nature,  whose  beauty  and 
grandeur  in  her  varying  moods  find  a  ready 
echo  in  his  strong,  manlj'  and  sensitive 
soul.  The  firm  rocks,  the  tall  trees,  the 
softly  whispering  reeds  reveal  to  him  their 
secrets  and  every  nook  becomes  alive   with 


resting  on  a  solitary  rock,  the  old  Triton 
blowing  tender  melodies  on  his  horn,  the 
mermaid,  a  creature  of  exuberant  strength, 
toying  with  a  huge  sea-serpent.  In  the 
wilds  of  the  mountains  huge  centaurs  are 
engaged  in  a  fierce  struggle  hurling  great 
rocks  at  each  other,  thus  symbolizing  the 
crude  forces  of  nature  at  their  destructive 
play.  Or,  on  the  other  hand,  as  in  Regions 
of  Joy,  one    sees    the   force   and    beauty  of 


By  courtesy  oj  Berlin  Photographic  Co. 


REGIONS    OF    JOY.       BOCKLIN. 


strange  forms,  such  as  the  world  had  heard 
of,  but  never  before  seen.  Pan  of  old  has 
come  to  earth  again  to  play  his  pranks, 
frightening  an  honest  Roman  shepherd  out 
of  his  wits;  or,  going  fishing,  to  his  own 
amazement  and  delight,  draws  a  frightened 
mermaid  from  the  waters.  In  Sport  of  the 
Waves,  you  see  the  mythical  dwellers  of  the 
sea  at  their  merry  play;  strange,  uncanny 
creatures,  the  spirits  of  rollicking  fun  and 
of  mysterious  dangers.  An  Idyl  of  the  Sea 
shows    these    wondrous    beings    peacefullv 


nature    interpreted    as    sturdy  centaur    and 
sportive  nymphs. 

In  all  these  works  the  figures  and  the 
landscape  constitute  an  inseparable  whole. 
With  no  other  artist  does  the  one  seem  so 
natural  an  outcome  of  the  other;  nor  has 
any  one  rendered  them  with  such  convincing 
realism.  But  Bocklin's  realism  is  not  de- 
pendent on  a  close,  literal  transcription  of 
nature,  like  LeibTs,  for  instance;  the  forms 
of  his  living  beings  are  necessarily  creations 
of  fancy,  based   on  a  study  of  nature,  to  be 


CENTURY  IN  GERMANY. 


(619 


sure,  but  not  mere  copies  of  any  existing 
species.  It  is  said  that  he  rarely,  if  ever, 
painted  his  pictures  from  nature;  this  may 
explain  his  occasional  offense  against 
anatomical  possibilities,  to  the  dismay  of  the 
academical  drawing  master;  but  to  say 
therefore  that  Bocklin  cannot  draw  is  sheer 
cant.  Still  it  is  undeniably  true  that  his 
greatest  strength  lies  in  color.  And  here 
he  is  supreme.  Though  the  greatest  part  of 
his  work  was  accomplished  during  the  Piloty 
era,  it  has  nothing  in  common  with  the 
awakening  of  the  color  sense  then  taking 
place.  Nor  had  his  art  need  of  the  later  dis- 
covery of  the  prismatic  composition  of  light, 
which  was  the  great  triumph  of  nineteenth 
century  art.  His  green  is  always  green; 
his  red,  red;  his  blue,  blue;  the  tone  of  his 
pictures  is  always  rich  and  deep,  and  aglow 
with  a  sensuous  color-harmony,  such  as  no 
other  modern  artist  has  achieved.  Bocklin's 
art  is  the  product  of  a  strong  and  healthy 
nature,  a  true  child  of  his  mountain  home. 
He  has  been  rightly  compared  to  Wagner 
for  the  essentially  musical  quality  of  his  art 
— with  far  more  aptness  indeed  than  the  art 
of  IMakart — for  his  bold  and  glorious  color- 
harmonies  appeal  to  the  same  sense  of  feel- 
ing in  healthy  natures  as  do  the  grand  tone- 
harmonies  of  Wagner. 

It  may  be  too  early  to  say  that  Bocklin's 
art  will  constitute  the  foundation  for  the  art 
of  the  succeeding  century ;  but  it  has  cer- 
tainly had  a  formative  influence  with  some 
of  the  stronger  men,  Stuck  and  Klinger,  for 
instance,  of  the  present  time. 

Max  Klinger  (1856-),  is  often  men- 
tioned with  Bocklin  in  the  same  breath. 
That  neither  Klinger  nor  Stuck  would  be 
what  they  are,  were  it  not  for  the  advent  of 
a  Bocklin,  is,  no  doubt,  quite  true.  Still, 
there  are  more  points  of  difference  than  of 
sympathy  between  the  three.  Bocklin  is 
always  thoroughly  healthy  and  enjoyable; 
Klinger's  muse  is  tainted  with  a  morbid 
breath,  which  is  never  pleasant  and  at  times 
is  very  repulsive.  Nor  is  it  ever  a  direct 
and  spontaneous  expression  of  his  feeling, 
but  rather  a  learned  and  complicated  expo- 
sition of  his  thoughts,  the  thoughts  of  one 
who  is  estranged  from  this  life's  more 
agreeable  side.      Klinger's  claims  to  fame 


rest  mainly  on  his  etchings;  he  took  up 
painting  comparatively  late  in  life,  and  has 
also  devoted  some  time  to  modeling,  with- 
out, however,  producing  in  either  of  these 
two  branches  of  art  anything  of  real  impor- 
tance to  its  history. 

Franis  Stuck  (1863-),  is  uuqestionably 
one  of  the  most  remarkable  of  the  younger 
men.  Beginning  as  a  draughtsman  he  dis- 
played a  wealth  of  imagination  in  illustrative 
and  decorative  designs.  When  he  began  to 
devote  himself  to  painting,  his  choice  of 
subjects  pointed  unmistakably  to  Bocklin, 
but  in  color  he  leaned  more  towards  the 
modern  school,  displaying  at  the  same  time 


By peymt^sion  oj  f.  Han/statngt. 

CRICIFI.XIDN.       STUCK. 


a  strong  individuality,  which  promised  well 
for  the  future.  He  soon  began  to  display 
his  originality  of  conception  in  such  paint- 
ings as  his  Guardian  of  Paradise,  his  Satan, 
and  especially  in  his  Crucifixion.  While 
neither  of  these  can  boast  of.  much  charm  of 
color,  but  show  more  the  vigorous  draughts- 
man, it  does  not  follow  that  Stuck  cannot 
be  ranked  high  among  the  painters,  for,  in 
some  of  his  smaller  and  less  ambitious  pro- 
ductions, his  color  is  exceedingly  good,  and, 
of  his  future,  we  may  expect  very  much. 

Berlin  has  in  Ludwig  v.  Hoffmann  (18?) 
an  idealist  of  talent,  though  not  of  any  pro- 
nounced originality.  His  works  are  of  very 
unequal    value,    but    at   times  of   a   certain 


620 


PAINTING  OF  THE  NINETEENTH 


poetical  charm  not  otherwise  to  be  found  in 
Berlin  art. 

Without  entering  into  the  causes  which 
have  brought  it  about,  it  is  sufficient  here 
to  state  that  religious  painting  has,  of  late, 
come  to  assume  a  very  conspicuous  place  in 
Germany,  as  elsewhere.  During  the  reign 
of  historical  painting  and  of  the  "historical 
genre,"  which  followed,  it  had  fallen  some- 
what into  neglect.  Painters  like  Gentz, 
who  had  gone  to  the  Orient,  brought  with 
them  a  good  knowledge  of  the  country,  its 
present  inhabitants,  the  customs  and  cos- 
tumes of  the  people.     Out  of  this  knowledge 


DISCiri.ES    AT    KMMAUS.       GEBHARLIT. 


they  proceeded  to  construct  the  apparatus 
for  their  more  or  less  historically  correct 
representations  of  the  time  of  Christ,  result- 
ing in  such  spectacular  pictures  as  Mun- 
kacsy's  Christ  before  Pilate,  or  such  painted 
falsehoods  as  Hofmann's  famous  Christ  in 
the  Temple,  the  numerous  reproductions  of 
which  are  doing  more  to  retard  a  healthy 
growth  of  intelligent  art  appreciation  than 
any  other  two  modern  paintings  can  hope  to 
counteract.  Hofmann's  painting  shows 
neither  truth  of  characterization  nor  truth 
of  color;  in  fact,  is  not  painting  at  all,  but 
merely  "illumination,"  appealing  to  the  love 


of  "prettiness,"  on   the  part  of  the  artistic- 
ally uneducated  masses. 

It  was  but  natural  that  a  reaction  against 
such  false  conception  of  painting  should  set 
in.  Foremost  among  the  reformers  must 
be  mentioned 

Eduard  v.  Qebhardt  (1838-).  As  the 
son  of  a  Protestant  minister  he  did  not,  in 
his  earlier  years,  come  into  close  contact 
with  religious  art,  which  was  ultimately  to 
become  his  specialty.  After  three  years  at 
St.  Petersburg  he  went  to  Diisseldorf,  trav- 
eled in  Belgium  and  Holland,  saw  Vienna 
and  Munich,  and  then  remained  at  Karlsruhe 
for  two  years,  after 
which  he  returned  to 
Diisseldorf,  where 
Schadow,  Bendemann 
and  Carl  Sohn  were  the 
leading  spirits  of  Ro- 
manticism. Religious 
art  was  entirely  under 
the  influence  of  the 
Catholic  Nazarene  spirit 
of  Schadow,  for  which 
the  Protestant  Gebhardt 
naturally  had  no  sym- 
pathy. He  did  not  en- 
ter the  Academy,  there- 
fore, but  worked  to- 
gether with  Wilhelm 
Sohn  (nephew  of  Carl), 
and  Carl  Hertel  in  a 
common  studio.  In 
1863,  he  exhibited  his 
first  ambitious  compo- 
sition, Christ's  Entry 
Into  Jerusalem,  in 
which  he  at  once  emphasized  his  oppo- 
sition to  the  prevailing  Nazarene  tend- 
ency in  religious  art.  When  asked  why 
he  chose  the  costume  of  the  middle  ages  for 
his  figures,  Gebhardt  replied:  "What  else 
should  I  do?  Continue  to  paint  like  the 
Nazarenes?  At  first,  I  thought  so,  too;  but 
these  conventional  gowns  would  not  fit  my 
homely  figures."  "Well,"  said  the  wise- 
acres, "you  should  paint  them  as  they  were: 
they  were  Orientals!"  "Strange!  Nobody 
has  ever  succeeded  in  producing  a  truly 
devotional  picture  in  the  Oriental  manner. 
Why  do  they  expect  it  of  me?     Do  we  not, 


CENTURY  IX  GERMANY 


621 


then,  as  Germans,  paint  for  Germans?" 
Because  of  its  national  character  and  its  pic- 
turesqueness  he  chooses  the  medieval  cos- 
tume; and  his  types  are  the  people  among 
whom  he  dwells.  Thus  he  rescues  religious 
art  from  the  sweet,  sickly  sentimentality  of 
the  Romantic  school,  and,  though  still  in  an 
antiquated  garb,  brings  it  nearer  to  the 
spirit  of  actuality.  Gebhardt  is  a  close  stu- 
dent of  the  old  German  and  Flemish  masters, 
and  an  ardent  admirer  of  their  realism.  If 
he  did  not  draw  the  final  conclusion  from 
their  works — that  in  order  to  be  true  to 
nature,  you  must  be  true  to  your  own 
time — ,  we  must  not  forget  that  such  a  step 
could  only  have  been  taken  by  a  genius,  a 
giant,  while  Gebhardt  marks  a  stage  in  the 
gradual  evolution  of  religious  art.  What  he 
has  given  us  marks  the  transition  from  the 
artificial  to  the  real ;  it  is  not  yet  the  real. 
But  one  step  farther!  You  feel,  in  looking 
at  such  a  picture,  as  his  Disciples  at  Em- 
maus  that  he  could  take  it,  and  be  entirely 
with  us! 

But  it  was  left  to  others  to  take  this  step. 


R 


ELIGIOUS  PAINTING.  Con- 
tinued: LIEBERMANN,  VON 
UHDE.  GERMAN  PAINTING. 
Concluded\ii) 


The  realist  Mcnzel  argued  that  inasmuch 
as  Christ  was  a  Jew,  living  among  Jews,  he 
should  be  repre- 
sented as  such, 
and  he*  made  a 
drawing  on  stone, 
representing  the 
youthful  Jesus  in 
the  Temple,  where 
his  mother  foimd 
him  among  the 
learned  doctors. 
His  figures  were 
all  faithful  copies 
of  Berlin  Jews  of 
the  mostpro- 
nounced  type.  At 
the  Munich  Inter- 
national Exhibi- 
tion of  1879. 


Max  Liebermann  (1849-),  exhibited  a 
painting  of  Christ  in  the  Temple,  which  was 
quite  in  the  spirit  of  Menzel's  drawing,  and 
created  no  small  amount  of  indignant  pro- 
test. Liebermann  is  the  originator  in  Ger- 
many of  that  latest  development  of  realistic 
art  which  has  since  found  in  Fritz  v.  Uiide 
its  most  prominent  representative.  Taking 
his  cue  from  Millet's:  "le  beau  c'est  le 
vrais, "  he  proceeded  to  choose  for  the  mod- 
els of  his  pictures  the  homeliest  individuals 
he  could  find,  by  way  of  protest  against  the 
prevalent  type  of  pretty  faces,  and,  in  his 
choice  of  the  boy  Jesus  he  went  about  to  the 
farthest  extreme.  It  is  not  possible  to  take 
either  Menzel  or  Libermann  very  seriously 
in  these  two  pictures;  doubtless,  they  both 
desired  to  be  very  emphatic  in  their  protest, 
but  hardly  expected  to  set  an  example.  In 
other  works  Liebermann  has  demonstrated 
his  singular  powers  as  a  painter  far  more 
successfully  and  has  established  his  claim 
to  leadership  beyond  the  possibility  of  dis- 
pute. His  Old  Men's  Home  at  Amsterdam 
is  one  of  the  noteworthy  pictures  of  modern 
art.  His  Flax  Spinners,  Woman  with  a 
Goat,  and  others,  painted  with  a  freedom 
and  dash  that  is  positively  astounding, 
prove  him  a  master  of  modern  realism.  So 
far  as  the  writer  is  aware,  Liebermann  has 
made  no  further  attempts  at  religious  art. 
He  no  doubt  soon  realized  that  it  was  a 
hopeless  task  to  treat  sacred  history  in  the 
spirit  in  which   he  conceived   his   first   and 


oj  the  Bt-rltn  Photo. 


FLAX   SPINNERS.       LIEBERMANN. 


b22 


PAINTING  OF  THE  NINETEENTH 


only  attempt.  There  would  appear  to  be  no 
very  good  reason  why  strictly  historical 
incidents  should  be  represented  otherwise 
than  in  a  manner  conforming  to  historic 
truth.  But  the  teachings  of  Jesus,  as  era- 
bodied  in  tlie  Cliristian  religion,  are  of  the 
same  vital  force  and  importance — nay,  more 
so — to-day  as  at  the  time  of  their  first  utter- 
ance. Christ  is  with  us  to-day  as  he  was 
with  our  forefathers  centuries  ago,  why  then 
should  art  not  represent  Christ  among  us? 
This  view  was  taken  by  Fritz  v.  Uhde 
(1848-).  Adopting  the  study  of  art  after  he 
had  risen  in  an  active  military  career  to  the 


CHRIST    IN    THE    PEASANT  3    HOME.       UHDE, 


rank  of  captain  of  dragoons,  he  became  a 
pupil  of  Munkacsy,  and  as  such  painted 
several  pictures  quite  in  the  style  of  his 
celebrated  teacher.  But  Uhde  soon  discov- 
ered the  error  of  his  ways  and  discarded 
everything  that  he  had  accepted  of  his  mas- 
ter's teachings.  The  first  picture  he  ex- 
hibited after  this  disclosed  the  complete 
revolution  of  his  artistic  conviction;  the 
Organ  Grinder,  a  picture  of  street  life  in  a 
Dutch  village  was  i^ainted  in  a  light  grey 
tone,  almostly  devoid  of  color,  compared  to 
his  earlier  works,  but  full  of  atmosphere  and 
truth.     It  was  followed  by  other  works  of 


similar  character,  betraying  the  unmistak- 
able influence  of  Liebermann.  Later,  there 
appeared  a  picture  which  rekindled  the 
angry  strife  that  Libermann's  religious 
painting  had  started  some  years  before, 
Suffer  the  Children  to  Come  Unto  Me! 
Here  was  a  modern  Dutch  room  of  goodly 
size,  probably  a  village  school-room  in  which 
was  seated  on  an  ordinary  reed-bottomed 
chair  a  strange  figure,  clad  in  a  long  dark 
gown,  and  the  village  children,  in  their 
modern,  every-day  attire,  came  into  the 
room,  alone,  or  accompanied  by  their  elders, 
some  confidently  approaching,  others  timor- 
ously holding  back;  one 
flaxen-haired  little  girl, 
more  confident  than  the 
rest,  has  offered  her 
hand  to  the  stranger. 
This  stranger  is  Christ, 
the  friend  of  children, 
to-day,  as  of  old.  In 
another  picture  Christ 
has  entered  the  room 
of  a  peasant's  house, 
where  the  frugal  meal 
is  about  to  be  served. 
In  this  spirit  Uhde  has 
conceived  religious  art. 
There  followed  a  Last 
Supper,  The  Sermon  on 
the  Mount,  and  The 
Annunciation  to  the 
Shepherds.  In  these 
pictures  and  others,  the 
actors  are  people  of  to- 
day, ordinary,  everyday 
people,  not  selected  for 
any  beauty  of  form  or  features,  nor  clad  in 
garments  especially  adapted  for  the  occasion. 
Slowly  and  reluctantly  the  opposition  to 
Uhde's  conception  of  religious  art  has  given 
way,  and  his  example  has  inspired  others  to 
follow  in  his  path,  among  whom  the  French- 
men L'Hermitte  and  Beraud  are  conspic- 
uous. 

While  Uhde  has  also  turned  his  attention 
to  other  fields,  notably  that  of  portraiture, 
his  fame  will  chiefly  rest  on  his  religious 
paintings,  which  mark  an  era  in  modern  art. 
He  has  not  yet  spoken  his  last  word,  and  it 
will    be    interesting    to    watch    his    further 


CENTURY  IN  GERMANY. 


623 


progress,  or,  as  some  would  already  have  it, 
his  decline.  However,  this  may  be,  the 
field,  he  has  opened  is  no  longer  left  to  him 
alone;  imitators  have  appeared,  and  others, 
equipped  with  strong  powers  of  their  own, 
have  been  led  to  advance  in  the  same  path. 
But  the  achievements  of  the  latter  are  of  too 
recent  a  date  to  find  room  in  a  historical  re- 
view at  this  time,  though  it  may  be  conceded 
that  some  of  them,  at  least,  will  retain  the 
position  they  have  already  gained  in  the  esti- 
mation of  their  contemporaries,  even  in  tiie 
eyes  of  the  coming  generation. 

In  Berlin  Franz  Skarbina  (1849-)  is, 
next  to  Liebermann,  the  strongest  repre- 
sentative of  the  new  art.  He  did  not 
arrive  at  his  present  conclusions  until  he  had 
passed  through  a  number  of  stages,  and  it  is 
by  no  means  certain  that  he  has  now  reached 
his  final  goal.  Ludwig  Dettman  (i865-),Hugo 
Vogel  (1855-),  Hans  Herrmann  (1858-),  and 
others  in  Berlin  are  all  men  of  sound  con- 
victions and  great  ability  as  painters. 

Among  the  Diisseldorf  artists  Arthur 
Kampf  (1864-),  Eduard  Kampfer  (1859-),  and 
a  few  others  show  a  progressive  spirit. 

In  Stuttgart  Otto  Reinlger  (1863-),  has 
displayed  singular  powers  as  a  landscape 
painter,  while  Robert  Haug  {185  7-),  though 
not  entirely  free  from  a  sentimental  vein, 
paints  pictures  of  soldiers  with  a  fine  feeling 
for  tone. 

Of  the  landscape  painters  who  succeeded 
to  the  generation  ending  with  Eduard 
Schleich  and  Adolph  Lier  (1827-1882),  men- 
tion should  be  made  of  Gustav  Schuenleber 
(1851-),  now  professor  at  the  Academy 
at  Karlsruhe.  His  work  is  notable  for  its 
fine  color  and  atmospheric  qualities,  in 
which  he  is  unsurpassed,  though  he  may 
have  had  his  equal  in  his  friend  Hermann 
Baisch  (1846-1892),  in  whose  cattle  pictures 
similar  qualities  are  dominant. 

Adolph  Staebli  (1842-),  Louis  Neubert 
(1846-1892),  who  was  clever,  but  never 
seemed  to  find  a  method  of  his  own.  Carl 
Heffner  (1849-),  Wilhelm  Keller-Reutlingen 
(1854-),  Joseph  Wenglein  (1845-),  Ludwig 
Willroider,  Peter  Paul  Miiller  (1853-),  Fried- 
rich  Kallmorgen  (1856-),  Ludwig  Dill  (1846-), 
and  many  others  are  among  the  leading 
landscape  painters  of  the  day. 


By  courleiy  of  Berlin  Photo.  Co. 

C.IRL   WEEPING.       LHDE. 


Munich  harbors  a  greater  number  of  the 
advanced  artists  than  the  rest  of  Germany 
combined.  The  leading  desire  there  has 
been  for  a  long  time  to  induce  foreign 
artists  to  either  come  or  send  their  works 
to  the  exhibitions  at  the  Glass  Palace,  and 
when  there  seemed  some  danger  of  the 
opponents  of  progress  restricting  such  hos- 
pitality, the  younger  element  forthwith 
severed  its  connection  with  the  Conserv- 
atives and  opened  an  annual  exhibition  of 
their  own,  where  foreigners  of  note  shared 
equal  rights  with  the  native  artists. 

At  the  head  of  the  new  movement  stood 
Bruno  Piglhein  (1848-1894),  a  man  of  re- 
markable ability,  who  was  but  once  in  his 
life  given  a  fair  opportunity  of  displaying 
his  power,  in  the  ])ainting  of  a  panorama, 
representing  the  crucifixion  of  Christ,  which 
has  since  been  dcstroj'ed  by  fire.  He  first 
attracted  greater  attention  to  himself  by  the 
exhibition,  in  1879,  of  ^  picture  of  the  cruci- 
fixion, Moritur  in  Deo,  which  represented 
the  Angel  of  Death  bending  over  the  cross 
to  kiss  the  lips  of  the  Savior.  After  this 
first  serious  effort  he  was  led  into  experi- 
menting with  pastels,  producing  a  series  of 


624 


PAINTING  OF  THE  NINETEENTH 


drawings  that  in  freedom  and  originality  of 
conception  and  skillful  treatment  suggested 
rather  the  work  of  some  clever  French- 
man. About  the  year  1887  he  conceived 
the  design  of  representing  the  scene  of 
the  crucifixion  in  the  form  of  a  panorama- 
painting.  By  the  assistance  of  a  few 
chosen  companions  he  set  to  work  and 
completed  the  painting  in  a  short  time,  scor- 
ing a  most  decided  and  remarkable  success. 
In  after-years,  in  America,  his  former  assist- 
ants repeated  the  performance  writh  more  or 
less  success ;  but  the  originator,  the  creative 
genius,  was  Piglhein.  What  he  might  still 
have  accomplished,  had  he  been  offered  the 
proper  opportunity,  it  is  not  possible  to  say; 
certain  it  is,  that  his  mind  was  replete  with 


By  permission  of  F.  Hanfsiaengl. 

SHEEr    FAMILY.        ZUGEL. 

untold  designs  easy  of  fulfillment  by  means 
of  his  remarkable  technical  skill.  Person- 
ally he  lacked  aggressiveness  to  overcome 
the  difficulties  in  the  way  of  procuring  im- 
portant commissions.  His  was  an  easy- 
going nature,  not  satisfied  with  the  way 
things  were  going,  it  is  true,  but  unwilling 
to  exert  himself  in  producing  a  change. 

Piglhein's  art  is  neither  entirely  modern 
nor  old-fashioned.  It  has  the  stamp  of 
originality  which  will  preserve  for  it  the 
admiration  of  artists  present  and  to  come. 
He  died  with  promises  unfulfilled  through 
no  fault  of  his  own,  and  Germany  has  lost 
another  artist  who  might  have  been  one  of 
her  greatest  sons. 

His  friend.  Baron  Hugo  von  Habermann 


(1849-),  has  allowed  a  similar  persistent 
neglect  of  his  merits  to  influence  his  art. 
A  gifted  colorist  and  with  an  easy  mastery 
of  the  brush,  he  changed  from  an  ardent 
admirer  of  the  old  masters  to  a  follower  of  a 
class  of  French  painters  whose  easel  is  set 
up  in  hospitals  and  doctor's  offices. 

Albert  Keller  (1845-),  a  pupil  of  Arthur 
von  Ramberg,  is  one  of  Germany's  nota- 
ble colorists.  Whatever  he  paints  is  the 
outcome  in  the  first  place,  not  of  any 
definite  idea,  but  of  some  color-scheme  that 
appeals  to  his  senses.  His  range  of  subjects 
is  of  a  most  varied  character:  portraits  of 
fashionable  women,  modern  interiors  with 
children,  a  gathering  at  a  dinner  party,  a 
mythological  or  a  religious  subject,  but  all 
are  chosen  solely  with  an  eye  to  their  color- 
istic  opportunities.  His  color  is  notable  for 
its  refined  grey  tones,  and  is  especially 
admirable  in  works  that  are  more  sketchy 
than  finished  in  workmanship. 

A  colorist  of  a  different  kind  is  Gotthard 
Kuehl  (1851-),  whose  pictures  of  Dutch 
and  of  church  interiors  are  sparkling  with 
light  and  atmosphere,  painted  with  rare 
skill  and  a  thorough  mastery  of  drawing. 

Paul  Hoecker  (1854-),  delights  in  paint- 
ing the  tile-covered  interiors  of  pictur- 
esque Dutch  houses.  With  him  it  is  also 
the  color-scheme  which  forms  the  basis  of  his 
picture;  this  once  decided  upon,  he  carries 
out  his  work  with  great  conscientiousness, 
producing  a  picture  of  charming  qualities. 

Of  artists  who  have  achieved  great  re- 
nown, more  or  less  deserved,  there  are 
many;  their  mere  enumeration  would  fill 
many  pages.  Among  the  older  are  Ferdi- 
nand Keller,  of  Karlsruhe;  Hermann  Prell, 
of  Dresden;  Paul  Meyerheim,  of  Berlin; 
Heinrich  v.  Angeli  and  Hans  Canon,  of 
Vienna;  Hans  Thoma,  of  Frankfort.  The 
ranks  of  the  younger  contain  such  men  as 
Ludwig  Herterich,  Wilhelm  Diirr,  Louis 
Corinth,  Julius  Exter,  Max  Slevogt,  and 
Wilhelm  Triibner.  Nor  should  a  group 
of  artists  go  without  mention  who  have 
founded,  in  a  small  North-German  town, 
a  school  of  their  own  and  have  become 
known  to  fameasthe  "Worpsweder. "  Fritz 
Mackensen,  Otto  Modersohn  and  Fritz 
Overbeck   appear    as   the    strongest   repre- 


CENTURY  IN  HOLLAND- 


63S 


sentativcs  of  this  group,  whose  aim  it  is  to 
render  nature  in  a  simple,  broad  manner, 
with  great  charm  of  color  and  a  true  and 
health)'  sentiment  for  the  poetical. 

Among  the  older  cattle-painters  the  name 
of  Friederich  Voltz  (1817-1886)  will  always 
be  cherished,  as  will  that  of  Anton  Braith 
(1836-),  though  both  have  been  far  sur- 
passed by  Heinrich  ZuKel  (1850-),  who- 
may  safely  be  accorded  the  first  place,  and 
one  of  the  leading  artists  of  the  nineteenth 
century  in  this  specialty.  With  a  thorough 
knowledge  of  animals,  especially  of  sheep, 
he  combines  a  keen  observation  of  the  fine 
atmospheric  tones  in  landscape,  is  a  colorist 
of  very  high  rank,  and  a  vigorous  champion 
of  progressive  ideas  in  art. 


PAINTING  IN  HOLLAND. (18) 
The  development  of  art  in  Hol- 
land and  in  Scandinavia  during 
this  period  is  in  many  respects 
analogous  to  that  just  considered,  the  chief 
difference  being  in  the  identity  of  the  actors. 
The  early  part  of  the  century  finds  the  art 
of  Holland  under  the  influence  of  Classic- 
ism, and  the  traditions  of  the  old  Dutch 
masters  were  for  the  time  forgotten.  Then 
there  followed  the  period  of  Romanticism, 
which  seemed  even  more  foreign  to  the 
national  spirit  of  phlegmatic  conservatism. 
The  spirit  of  their  great  ancestors  of  the 
seventeenth  century  seemed  to  have  fled  the 
country  and  it  was  not  until  foreign  nations 
had  claimed  the  inheritance,  that  the  Dutch 
finally  awoke  to  the  necessity  of  claiming 
their  share. 

B.  C.  Koekkoek  (1803-1862),  was  the  first  of 
the  landscape  painters  to  depart  from  the 
ways  of  the  Romanticists  and  return  to  a 
closer  observation  of  nature.  Though  his 
landscapes  are  exceedingly  petty  in  execu- 
tion, like  Verboeckhoven's  sheep,  they  did 
not,  at  least,  depend  on  any  alien  idea  for  a 
title  to  existence.  Petrus  van  Schendel  (1806- 
1870),  shared,  to  a  certain  extent,  Koek- 
koek's  merits  and  defects  as  a  landscape 
painter. 

Among  the  figure  painters  it  was  David 
Bles     (1821-),    and     Hermann     F.     K.    ten 


Kate  (182 2-),  who  modeled  their  work 
on  that  of  the  old  masters,  while  in  Charles 
Rochussen,  there  lived  the  foremost  his- 
torical painter  of  Holland.  Meanwhile,  the 
transition  from  the  teachings  of  the  older  to 
the  younger  school  was  gradually  taking 
place.  Men  like  Johannes  Bosboom  (1817- 
1891),  and  J.  W.  Welssenbruch  (1822-1880), 
were  not  only  paving  the  way,  but  them- 
selves absorbed  much  of  the  new  spirit, 
which  was  really  that  of  the  old  Dutch  mas- 
ters returning  to  earth  again  and  adjusting 
itself  to  the  new  conditions. 

The  father  of  modern  Dutch  art,  and  still 
its  strongest  representative  is  Joseph  Israels 
(1824-).  When  twenty  years  of  age  he 
began  to  seriously  take  up  the  study  of  art 
at  Amsterdam,  where  he  worked  in  the 
studio  of  Jan  Krusemann,  a  historical 
painter  of  some  note.  In  1845  he  went  to 
Paris,  studying  at  first  with  Picot,  then 
entering  the  Ecole  des  Beaux-Arts,  under 
Delaroche.  Returning  to  Amsterdam  in 
1848,  he  began  by  painting  historical  pic- 
tures in  the  style  of  his  late  master,  and  had 
a  hard  time  of  it.  Then  he  was  taken  seri- 
ously ill  and  was  compelled  to  change  his 
abode,  going  to  the  little  fishing  village 
Zandvoort,  where  he  not  only  regained  his 
health,  but  also  a  new  inspiration  for  his 
art.  The  dingy  little  interior  of  the  fisher- 
men's huts  disclosed  their  picturesque 
charms  to  his  artistic  perception,  and  he 
found  the  life  of  the  poor  people,  both  at 
home  and  on  the  sea,  so  full  of  artistic  pos- 
siblities,  that  his  interest  in  the  heroes  of 
old  began  to  fade  like  the  mist  before  the 
rising  sun.  Henceforth  he  devotes  himself 
to  the  painting  of  the  people.  While  his 
first  attempts  are  naturally  still  strongly 
influenced  by  his  academical  training  and 
still  lay  great  stress  on  the  4dea,  he  gradu- 
ally develops  into  the  painter  of  the  people 
of  his  country,  as  Millet  had  become  the 
painter  of  the  French  peasant.  With  the 
deepest  sympathy  for  the  woes  of  the  lowly, 
Israels  represents  the  tragedies  of  their  life 
in  the  most  faithful  and  touching  manner. 
In  the  picture.  Alone  in  the  World,  the  dim 
twilight  of  the  room  but  partially  reveals 
the  stern,  hard  truth  of  actuality — the  gray 
dusk  kindly  hides  the   full  horror  of  all  this 


626 


PAINTING  OF  THE  NINETEENTH 


ALONE    I.N    THE    WOKLD.       ISRAELS. 

wretched   povert_v,  with   its   added   grief  of 
separation  by  death. 

With  equal  trutli  Israels  presents  us  the 
happy  side  of  life,  the  gay  and  innocent  joys 
of  childhood.  Or  he  takes  us  out  to  the 
toilers  of  the  sea,  strong,  square-built, 
weather-beaten  men,  clumsy  in  their  out- 
ward appearance,  plying  their  trade  with  the 
dull  regularity  of  a  machine.  Israels  is 
at  once  the  lyric  poet  and  the  histo- 
rian of  the  people,  and  in  art  the  founder 
of  that  realistic  school  which  places  Hol- 
land once  more  in  the  front  rank  of 
nations.  The  Dutch  are  essentially  paint- 
ers; when  they  awoke  from  a  century's 
wanderings  after  strange  ideals,  they  were 
quick  to  take  up  the  brush  that  had  been 
laid  down  by  their  great  forefathers,  and 
soon  discovered  that  they  still  lived  in  the 
same  land,  that  nature  still  offered  the 
same  material  to  them  as  it  did  to  the  mas- 
ters of  the  seventeenth  century,  and  their 
eyes  began  to  grow  stronger,  detecting  new 
and  deeper  truths.  While  Israels'  fondness 
for  sober  greys  is  cultivated  by  men  like 
Albert  Neuhuys  (1844-),  Adolph  Artz 
(1837-1890),  and  others;  Christoffel  Bisschop 
(1828-)  is  devoted  to  the  brilliant  color 
effects  of  sunshine  in  richly  furnished  inte- 
riors, inhabited  by  the  men  and  women  of 
Friesland  in  their  picturesque  costumes. 
Pieter  Oyens  (1842-)  also  delights  in 
strong  color  harmonies,  which  he  produces 
in  pictures  of  studio  interiors  and  the  like. 


Modern  Dutch  landscape 
painting  owes  its  liberation 
from  the  tiresome  prettiness  of 
Koekkoek  and  Schendel  in  the 
first  place  to  the  influence  of 
the  masters  of  Fontainebleau. 
J.  B.  Jongkind  (1819-1891), 
must  be  considered  the  con- 
necting link.  He  was  indeed 
contemporaneous  with  the  great 
Frenchmen,  among  whom  he 
lived  and  worked  most  of  the 
time,  and  by  whom  he  was 
greatly  esteemed  for  the  fine 
atmospheric  qualities  of  his 
work. 

The  brothers  Willem  (1815-) 
and  Jacob  Maris  (1837-1889), 
are  the  foremost  representatives  of  the 
new  Dutch  school  of  landscape  paint- 
ing. Willem  is  particularly  fond  of  the  rich 
green  turf  and  marsh  reeds  after  a  passing 
storm  has  lent  new  freshness  to  their 
aspect;  while  Jacob's  was  a  more  tender 
nature,  finding  expression  in  soft  delicate 
greys  and  greyish  browns.  His  technique 
is  remarkably  bold  and  broad,  and  he  has  a 
refined  feeling  for  the  dreamy  and  poetic  in 
nature.  This  is  also  true  of  Anton  Mauve 
(1838-1888),  whose  landscapes  with  sheep  are 
the  creations  of  a  tender  poetic  feeling. 


P 


AINTING     IN     HOLLAND.     Con- 
cluded. (19) 


A  man  of  robust  strength  and  un- 
compromising realism  is  the  marine 
painter 

H.  W.  Mesdag  (1831-).  It  has  been  said  that 
Mesdag  is  the  greatest  of  all  marine  paint- 
ers, living  or  dead;  and  in  a  certain  sense 
that  is  true,  no  one  having  rendered  the 
sea — more  particularly  the  North  Sea,  off 
the  coast  of  Holland — with  so  much  con- 
vincing truth  and  realism.  With  him  art  is 
not  an  expression  of  moods  and  poetic  feel- 
ing, but  of  stern  realism.  True,  he  renders 
the  sea  in  various  moods;  but  it  is  the  result 
always  of  a  clear  vision  and  intellectual 
analysis,  not  the  outcome  of  spontaneous 
feeling. 


CENTURY  IN  HOLLAND. 


627 


MUK.MNli    O.N    Tllli    BAY.       ME?;iiAG. 


K.  Klinkenberg  (1852-),  a  pupil  of  Bis- 
schop's,  paints  the  effect  of  sunlight  on  the 
picturesque  brick  houses  along  the  canals 
intersecting  Dutch  cities  and  villages  with 
startling  reality,  though  withal  rather 
photographic  in  truthfulness. 

F.  H.  Apol  (1850-),  is  a  most  success- 
ful painter  of  winter  landscapes. 

J.  H.  L.  De  Haas  (1832-1900),  has  become 
famous  as  a   ])ainter  of  cattle   and  donkeys. 

One  of  the  most  delightful  of  Dutch  land- 
scapists  is  Paul  E.  C.  Gabriel  (1828-),  whose 
pictures  are  full  of  a  bright,  clear  light  and 
transparent  air,  stretching  into  boundless 
space.  W.  Roelofs  (182 2-),  is  a  kindred 
spirit,  fond  of  treating  the  fiat  expanse  cf 
pasture  lands,  with  the  picturesque  wind- 
mills set  broadly  against  the  luminous  sky. 
H.  J.  van  der  Weele,  a  j-oungcr  man,  shows 
remarkable  strength  in  his  landscape  and 
cattle  pieces. 

Modern  impressionism  has  not  been  with- 
out influence  on  Dutch  art;  but,  thanks  to 
national  conservatism,  it  has  made  no 
serious  inroads  with  its  vagaries.  One  of  the 
leading,  and  probably  the  strongest  repre- 
sentative of  this  new  school  is  G.  H.  Breit- 
ner  (185 7-),   who    shows  the  healthy  influ- 


ence of  Manet  in  his  military  pictures,  which 
reveal  in  their  broad,  free,  treatment,  the 
truthful  outward  appearance  of  things. 
Isaac  Israels  is  a  prominent  figure  in  this 
group- and  in  his  later  work  B.  J.  Blommcrs 
(1845),  sIidws  the  influence  of  iniprtssion- 
ism  to  great  advantage. 

There  is  still  to  be  considered  a  group  of 
artists,  whose  nationality  did  not  prevent 
them  from  falling  vinder  the  influence  of 
foreign  mysticism.  Mathew  Maris  (1835-), 
a  brother  of  Jacob  and  Willem,  was  the 
first  to  lie  influenced  in  this  direction.  A 
healthy,  realistic  conception  gave  way  to 
a  dreamj',    mystical  contemplation   of   life. 

By  far  the  most  pronounced  individuality 
of  this  group  is  Jan  Toorop  (i86o-).  His  ideas 
take  the  shape  of  "designs,"  which  are  to 
serve  decorative  purposes,  as  tiles,  windows, 
panels  and  wall-paintings.  Though  relying 
greatly  on  color  combinations  for  their  value, 
a  peculiarly  graceful  arrangement  of  lines 
forms  a  strong  attraction  of  his  singular 
conception.  For  instance,  in  the  illustration 
here  given,  the  arrangement  of  lines  is  one 
of  a  beautiful  rhythm,  pleasing  in  the  ex- 
treme, without  our  at  once  detecting  or 
caring  that  they  are  all  really  the  outlines 


628 


PAINTING  OF  THE  NINETEENTH 


LAMENTATION  OF  THE  IDEAL  ON  EARTH  OVER  THE 
SHATTERED  CROSS.   TOOROP. 


of  human  figures.  The  design  is  likewise 
remarkable  for  its  skillful  arrangement  of 
light  and  dark  masses. 


PAINTING  IN  SWEDEN. {20) 
Swedish   art  of    the  beginning  of 
the  nineteenth  century  was  derived 
directlj'  from  Paris.     The  foremost 
representatives     were     David's    pupil    Per 
Kraft  and  Frederic  Westin  and  in  landscape 
art  Elias  Jlartin. 

As  elsewhere,  the  Romantic  followed  upon 
the  Classic  period,  and,  though  timidly 
enough  at  first,  the  desire  for  color  began  to 
make  itself  felt. 

The  Overbeck  of  Sweden  was  Karl  Plage= 
inann  (1805-?);  while  the  position  of 
Schwind  may  be  said  to  have  been  occupied 
by  Nils  Johan  Blommer  (1816-1858),  whose 
fine  poetic  fancy  sought  to  give  form  to  the 
sagas  and  folk-songs  of  the  North. 

The  landscapists  of  the  period  were  K.  J. 
Fahlcrantz  (i 774-1861), and  G.  V. Palm  (1810- 
1S90),  the  former  of  whom  attempted  an 
idealization  of  nature,  while  the  latter  was 
painstaking  and  scientific  in  his  attention  to 
detail. 

In  Sweden  it  was  also  the  military  painter 


who  first  devoted  his  attention  to  modern  and 
national  life.  J.  P.  Soedermark  (1822-1889), 
was  the  ablest  among  these,  though  his 
more  ambitious  battle-pictures  do  not  com- 
pare in  artistic  value  with  some  of  the  por- 
traits from  his  brush.  The  transition  from 
the  soldier  to  the  peasant  picture  is  marked 
by  J.  G.  Sandberg  (1782-1854),  who  was  cap- 
tivated by  the  picturesque  costumes  of  the 
peasants. 

K,  A.  Dahlstroem  (-1869),  his  contempo- 
rary, had  a  keener  perception  of  the  artistic 
possibilities  of  the  people,  and  rendered  them 
with  more  intimate  knowledge.  The  old 
Dutch  masters  were  studied  successfully  by 
Per  Wickenberg  (1812-1846),  Karl  Wahlbom 
(1810-1858)  andnotably  by  Lindholm  (1819-?). 
About  the  middle  of  the  century  Diisseldorf 
became  the  Mecca  of  Swedish  artists.  The 
fame  of  this  continental  school  of  painting 
had  spread  far  and  wide,  and  the  Swedish 
artists  began  eagerl}'  to  study  its  methods  to 
such  an  extent,  that,  though  they  continued 
to  paint  Swedish  subjects,  they  became 
really  German  painters  and  fairl}'  out-Diis- 
seldorfed  Diisseldorf.  Knaus  and  Vautier 
became  the  models  after  which  D'Uncker 
Nordenberg,  Wallander  (1862-),  Jernberg 
{1855-),  and  others  fashioned  their  pictnres. 

With  the  advent  of  Piloty  to  Munich  the 
attraction  of  Diisseldorf  came  to  an  end, 
and  artists  from  Sweden  went  either  to  the 
Bavarian  capital  or  else  to  the  fountain-head 
of  the  new  school  of  painting,  to  Paris. 

J.  K.  Boklund  (1817-1880),  studied  at  first 
under  Piloty  and  then  with  Couture.  Re- 
turning to  Sweden,  he  became  director  of 
the  Academy  at  Stockholm,  and  exerted 
there  much  the  same  influence  that  Piloty 
did  at  Munich. 

J.  F.  Hoeckert  (1826-1866),  avoided  history- 
painting  and  found  in  the  life  of  his  people 
fit  subjects  for  his  brush.  He  was  the  first 
who  did  this  with  remarkable  skill,  a  fine 
feeling  for  color,  and  an  avoidance,  at  the 
same  time,  of  the  anecdotal  in  his  themes. 
An  Interior  of  a  Lapland  Hut,  painted  in 
1857,  was  seen  at  the  Paris  Salon;  while  his 
Divine  Service  in  Lapland  received  a  first 
class  medal  at  the  World's  Fair  of  the  same 
year. 

Georg     von     Rosen     (1843-),     who     sue- 


CENTURY  IN  SCAN  DIN  A  VIA. 


629 


ceeded  Boklund  as  director  of  the  Stockholm 
Academy,  is  a  man  of  good  training,  which 
he  received  at  Paris,  Munich,  Weimar  and 
Brussels.  While  the  influence  of  the 
theatrical,  historical  school  is  apparent  in 
even  such  works  as  his  otherwise  fine  por 
trait  of  the  famous  explorer  of  the  polar 
regions,  Nordenskjold,  he  devotes  himself 
with  like  skill  to  archaic  subjects  in  the 
style  of  Hendrik  Leys. 

Julius  Kronberg  (1850-),  is  influenced 
by  the  art  of  Makart. 

History-painting  found  in  Gustav  Hellquist 
(185 1- 1890)  a  painter  of  rare  qualities  and 
greater  promise,  who,  had  not  a  cruel  fate 
bereft  him  of  reason  and  life,  might  have 
exerted  a  strong  influence  upon  the  art  of  his 
country.  By  training  largely  German,  his 
observation  of  nature  was  far  keener  and 
truer  than  that  of  his  teachers;  in  his  paint- 
ing he  emploj-s  a  fine  gre\-  tone,  quite  unlike 
anything  at  that  time  known  to  Munich, 
where  his  King  Waldemar  Atterdag  at 
AVisby,  set  the  art  critics  to  pondering  over 
its  merits.  It  was  painted  from  studies  in 
the  open  air,  to  which  Hellquist  was  one  of 
the  first  to  devote  himself  with  intelligence 
and  great  success. 

Gustav  Cedarstroem  (1845-)  and  Nils 
Forsbcrg  (1841-)  are  two  other  able  histor- 
ical painters. 

Among  landscapists  M.  Larsson  (1825- 
64)  used  brilliant  but  crude  color-effects ;  and 
Alfred  Wahlberg  (1834-)  drew  inspiration 
from  Dupre. 

Eduard  Bergh  (1828-1880),  paved  the  way 
for  the  more  recent  conception  of  landscape 
painting,  which  does  not  seek  its  excuse  in 
the  heroic,  "grand"  style,  or  the  brilliantly 
effective,  though  he  had  paid  tribute  to  it 
when  under  the  influence  of  Calame,  after 
first  having  studied  at  Diisseldorf.  It  was 
not  until  he  finally  settled  in  Sweden  that 
his  true  feeling  found  expression  in  the  lov- 
ing and  poetic  rendering  of  quiet  bits  of 
nature. 

Paris  had  the  most  powerful  influence 
over  the  younger  school  of  Swedish  paint- 
ers. While  some  have  taken  up  their  per- 
manent abode  in  the  French  capital,  others 
returned  to  their  native  country  and  there 
led  Swedish  art  into  new  channels. 


Hv  courUsy  of  Bfrlin  Photo.  Co. 

PORTRAIT  OF  NORDENSKJOLD.   ROSEN. 


Per  Eckstrom  is  attracted  by  the  lonely 
and  desolate  spots  in  landscape  and  suc- 
ceeds in  rendering  them  in  a  fascinating 
manner. 

A  remarkable  success  in  painting  night 
and  twilight  scenes  has  been  achieved  by 
Karl  Nordstrdm  (1855-) ;  and  similar  mo- 
tives are  treated  with  hardly  less  skill  bj' 
Nils  Kreuger  (1858-).  An  enviable  posi- 
tion has  been  gained  by  Prince  Eugene 
of  Sweden  (1864-),  whose  landscapes,  in  the 
spirit  of  modernity,  show  a  decided  indi- 
vidual conception  and  are  beautifully  poetic 
in  feeling. 

The  Swedes  of  great  prominence  and 
strong  influence  on  their  native  brethren 
in  art  who  have  taken  up  their  permanent 
abode  in  Paris  are  Salmson  and  Hagborg 
and  Gegerfelt.  Hugo  Salmson  (1845-) 
was  influenced  bj'  Bastien-Lepage  to  study 
figures  out  of  doors,  and  in  turn  set  the  ex- 
ample for  his  younger  countrymen  for  a 
closer  observation  of  nature  than  had 
hitherto  obtained.  His  pictures  are  always 
refined  in  tone  and  painted  with  a  skillful 


630 


PAINTING  OF  THE  NINETEENTH 


hand,  which  gained  for  t'.iem  great  popu- 
larity, even  in  Paris,  where  stronger  men 
abound.  In  1S78  he  exhioited  the  picture, 
Laborers  in  the  Turnip  Field,  which  marks 
the  turning  point  not  only  in  his  own  art, 
but  also  in  the  art  of  Sweden. 

August  Hagborg's  career  (1852-)  is 
in  many  respects  identical  with  that  of 
Salmson.  He  too,  like  the  latter,  was  at 
first  addicted  to  the  costume  picture,  until 
he  found  in  the  dwellers  by  the  seashore 
fit  subjects  for  his  brush.  While  he  en- 
deavors to  make  his  fisherman  and  maidens 
acceptable  in  "good  society"  by  smooth 
painting,  graceful  bearing  and  a  certain 
handsomeness,  j'et  he  succeeds  in  rendering 
an  unmistakable  out-of-door  truth,  which 
places  him  among  the  notable  leaders  of  tlie 
movement  initiated  by  Lepage. 

Vv'^ilhelm     v.     Qegerfelt     (1844-)     a     land- 


HATHERS.       ZORN. 


scape  painter  of  considerable  ability  at  the 
time,  has  now  been  left  somewhat  behind. 
But  he  was  a  man  of  considerable  merit  and 
of  great  influence  among  his  countrymen. 

Among  animal  painters,  none  have 
achieved  such  success  as  Bruno  Liljefors 
(i860-).  It  was  left  to  the  artists  of 
Munich  to  discover  his  merits  in  1892,  and 
since  then  he  has  become  famous.  Liljefors 
is  mainly  self-taught;  for  when  he  was 
dropped  from  the  list  of  academy  students  at 
Stockholm  as  without  talent,  he  betook  him- 
self to  the  country,  where  he  became  aclose 
observer  of  animal  life  and  nature  generally. 

Of  the  younger  figure  painters  the  names 
of  Richard  Bergh  (1858-),  Alf  Wallander 
(1862-),  Oscar  Bjorck  (i860-),  and  Carl 
Larsson  (1855-),  represent  artists  of  more 
than  usual  ability.  Larsson  is  no  doubt 
the  one  of  greatest  versatility.  Beginning 
as  an  illustrator,  he  took  up  in  the  course 
of  time  every  branch  of  art,  made  him- 
self familiar  with  every  technique  and 
material,  until  he  felt  himself  fully  equipped 
for  monumental  painting,  to  which  he  finally 
devoted  himself  with  much  success. 

The  most  commanding  figure  in  Swedish 
art  of  to-day,  the  one  marking  its  farthest 
progress,  and  consequently  one  of  the  most 
advanced  and  best  known  artists  of  the  day, 
is  Anders  Zorn  (i860-).  His  early  am- 
bition was  to  became  a  sculptor.  But  when 
he  adopted  the  study  of  painting,  he  made  a 
success  of  portraiture,  while  still  at  the 
Academy.  Then  he  began  to  travel,  going 
to  Italy  and  Spain,  and  settled  in  London, 
in  1885,  where  he  at  once  became  popular. 
From  here  he  made  frequent  journeys,  and 
continued  to  experiment  in  his  art,  painting 
now  in  water  color,  now  in  oil.  Among  his 
striking  studies  are  the  figures  of  bathers, 
in  which  the  effect  of  light  on  the  nude 
bodies  and  the  ripple  of  the  water  are  ren- 
dered with  most  remarkable  truth.  His 
portraits  are  handled  with  a  boldness  and 
dash  that  at  times  verges  on  the  brutal,  but 
in  his  best  efforts  command  highest  admira- 
tion. Among  his  notable  paintings  is  the 
iuterior  of  a  Paris  omnibus,  and  a  ball-room 
scene,  which  shows  a  keen  observation  of 
the  figures  in  graceful  motion.  Zorn  is  no 
less  remarkable  as  an  etcher. 


CENTCRY  IX  SCANDINAVIA. 


631 


PAINTING  IN  NORWAY.  (2 1 ) 
The  spirit  of  the  strong,  bold,  ad- 
venturous Viking  is  easily  dis- 
cernible in  Norwegian  art.  As  yet 
it  has  hardly  a  history;  none,  at  least,  that 
would  seem  to  pay  for  the  pains  of  a 
thorough  investigation  beyond  the  begin- 
ning of  the  century,  oreren  of  the  first  third 
of  the  century.  The  first  Norwegian  artist 
of  any  note  is  C.  Dahl  (1788-1857),  who  has 
been  already  considered  in  his  relation  to 
German  landscape  art. 

Adolf  Tiedemand  (1814-1876),  the  first 
Norwegian  figure  painter  of  note,  we  have 
also  met  in  Germany,  where,  at  Diisseldorf, 
he  was  a  leader  in  the  Scandinavian  colony. 
Hans  Dahl  (1849-)  also  owes  his  art  edu- 
cation to  the  same  school,  and  though  he  is 
not  free  from  its  weaknesses,  he  ap- 
proaches nature  in  the  spirit  of  love  for 
truth,  though  always  with  the  purpose  cf 
eliciting  a  happy  smile.  Ludwig  Munthe 
(1843-),  and  A.  Normann  (1848-),  are  exceed- 
ingly able  landscape  painters,  displaying 
vigor  and  strength  in  their  work. 

When  Munich  began  to  crowd  Diisseldorf 
from  its  leading  position,  the  Norwegians 
also  were  attracted  to  the  school  of  Piloty 
and  the  men  working  with  him  ti)  build  up  a 
new  school  of  painting.  While  some  few 
remained  permanently  in  Germany,  many 
returned  to  their  native  land,  having,  not 
infrequently,  first  stopped  at  Paris  for  a 
while.  Under  their  influence  the  crudeness 
of  native  art  began  to  disappear,  and  a 
strong,  healthy,  realistic  art  of  unmistakable 
nationality  to  take  shape. 

N.  G.  Wenzel  (1859-),  is  one  of  these 
typical  artists.  He  is  fond  of  strong  light 
effects,  caring  nothing  for  finer  gradations 
of  tone.  The  same  may  be  said  of  Frederick 
Kolstoe  (1S60-),  who  shows  probably  a 
little  less  crudity  in  his  treatment  of  the  fig- 
ures. Christian  Krohg  (1852-),  is  justly 
considered  the  strongest  among  the  painters 
of  the  fisher-folk.  Krohg,  the  painter,  is 
inseparable  from  Krohg,  the  author;  in 
both  callings  it  is  the  naturalist  of  the  most 
pronounced  type  who  expresses  himself  in  a 
forceful,  uncompromising  manner.  As  a 
painter    his    greatest   successes    liave    been 


achieved  by  his  pictures  from  the  hazardous 
life  of  the  pilots. 

A  man  cf  tender  feeling  is  Christian 
Skredsvic  (1854-).  He  is  fond  of  quiet 
ctTects  and  soft  tones,  and  his  pictures  are 
veiy  poetic  in  sentiment.  He  has  also 
entered  the  realm  of  religious  painting, 
which  he  approaches  in  the  modern  spirit  of 
Uhde  with  undeniable  success. 

Eilif    Peterssen   (185 2-),   who,   as  a  pupil 


By  prrmisUon  of  F.  Hanfstaengl. 

SLI(;Hr    SKIRMISH.        DAHL. 

of  Lindenschniidt  at  first  painted  histor- 
ical subjects,  has  latterly  turned  his  atten- 
tion with  great  success  to  modern  life  and 
to  landscape.  Under  the  influence  of  the 
old  masters  of  the  Venetian  school  he 
painted  a  number  of  altar-pictures;  but, 
after  returning  to  his  native  land,  he  learned 
to  love  and  paint  the  landscape  of  liis  home 
in  all  its  charm  of  quiet  refinement. 

Otto    5inding    (1842-),    is    a    man  of    no 


632 


PAINTING  OF  THE  NINETEENTH 


definite  convictions,  now  coming  under  the 
influence  of  the  Diisseldorf  School,  then 
under  that  of  Munich,  and  again  paying  his 
tribute  to  Bocklin,  and  to  the  plein-airists. 
Something  good  will  always  be  found  in 
whatever  he  paints,  but  he  is  never  him- 
self. 

The  artist  who  first  discovered  the  true 
charm  of  Norwegian  landscape  in  the  quiet, 
out-of-the-way  corners  of  nature,  where 
she  took  no  trouble  to  appear  majestic 
and  grand,  was  Amandus  Nilson  (1833-). 
Though  his  first  impressions  were  received 
under  the  training  of  Diisseldorf,  he  began 
to  see  "with  his  own  eyes"  after  returning 
to  Norway,  where  the  po3try  of  desolate, 
waste  pieces  of  scenery  appealed  to  his 
feeling. 

Robust  and  healthy,  sparkling  in  the 
fresh,  clear  light  of  the  northern  sun,  such 
is  the  art  of  Fritz  Thaulow  (1847-).  He 
is  particularly  fond  of  winter  effects,  and 
chooses  the  simplest  of  "motifs'"  for  his 
pictures:  a  little  red  house,  half  hid  in  the 
snow,  with  a  figure  or  two,  and  a  clear  blue 
sky  above.  Or  a  river,  struggling  to  free 
itself  from  its  burden  of  ice  and  snow;  or 
the  angry  whirl  marking  the  track  of  a  huge 
steamer.  No  one  has  ever  rendered  the 
motion  of  water  with  greater  truthful- 
ness. 

A  healthy  realist  among  the  figure  paint- 
ers is  Erik  Werenskiold  (1S55-),  To  judge 
him  correctly,  however,  he  must  not  be  con- 
sidered as  painter  only;  for  in  his  illustra- 
tions to  Northern  fairy-tales  he  gives  us  a 
series  of  charming  creations. 

A  thoroughly  able  and  conscientious 
painter  is  Jan  Ekenaes  (r847-).  He  paints 
the  Norwegian  fishers  at  their  various  occu- 
pations in  summer  and  winter  in  a  style 
which  is  neither  antiquated  nor  quite  mod- 
ern, and  therefore  entirely  acceptable  to 
most  people. 

Strangely  enough,  neither  Sweden  nor 
Norway  has  produced  any  really  great 
marine  painter.  The  shore  pictures  of  Karl 
Edvard  Dircks  (1855-),  are  certainly  not 
without  considerable  merit,  and  peaceful 
seascapes  of  Nils  Hansteen  (1855.),  are  ad- 
mirable in  their  harmonious  coloring,  but 
neither  of  these  call   for  any  special  praise. 


PAINTING  IN  DENMARK.(22) 
"The  same  mysterious  fra- 
grance which  breathes  from  the 
works  of  Jacobsen,  the  dreamy 
disposition  to  lose  consciousness  of  self, 
that  melting  away  and  vanishing  in  mist, 
suggesting  the  soft  outlines  of  the  coasts  of 
Zealand,  is  likewise  peculiar  to  Danish  art. 
It,  too,  has  something  abashed  in  spirit,  an 
infinite  need  for  what  is  delicate  and  re- 
fined, introspective,  diffident,  irresolute, 
fainting  and  despondent,  youthful  and 
innocent,  and  yet  glimmering  with  tears,  a 
yearning  that  is  like  sadness,  a  renunciation 
that  finds  vent  in  elegies  that  are  still  and 
keenly  sweet.  It  also  avoids  the  cold,  clear 
day,  and  the  sun,  so  indiscreet  in  his  revela- 
tions. Everything  is  covered  with  a  soft, 
subdued  light;  everything  is  silent,  myste- 
rious, luxuriating  in  pleasant  and  yet  mourn- 
ful reveries.  Melting  landscapes  are 
presented  in  lines  that  vanish  in  mist,  and 
with  indecisive  depths  and  tones.  Or  there 
are  dark  rooms,  where  tea  is  upon  the  table 
and  quiet  people  are  leaning  back  in  their 
chairs."  Nothing  could  give  a  more  truth- 
ful general  picture  of  Danish  art  than  the 
above  excerpt  from  Dr.  Muther's  "History 
of  Modern  Painting." 

Before  the  Munich  International  Exhibi- 
tion of  1888  comparatively  few  people  out- 
side of  little  Denmark  knew  much  of  its  art. 
The  writer,  witnessing  the  advent  to  Munich 
of  these  artists,  was  among  the  first  to  be- 
speak for  them  a  lasting  success,  and  later 
years  have  justified  this  claim.  An  ex- 
tended review  of  Danish  art  is  unfortunately 
at  this  moment  out  of  question;  let  no  one 
misconstrue  the  brevity  of  this  account  into 
a  refusal  to  recognize  the  full  importance  of 
Danish  art,  which  is  older  than  that  of 
Sweden  and  Norway,  and  has  good  claims 
for  our  attention  next  to  that  of  Holland. 

At  the  beginning  of  the  century  the  sculp- 
tor Thorwaldsen  was  the  reigning  spirit ;  he 
dominated  the  art  of  all  countries  at  the  time 
as  the  great  leader  in  Classicism,  and  paint- 
ers like  Carstens — if  painter  he  can  be  called 
— were  of  the  same  spirit. 

C.  V.  Eckersberg  {1783- 1853),  had  received 
the  same  early  training  at  the  Copenhagen 


CENTURY  IN  SCAN  DIN  A  17.1. 


^Zi 


Academy.  He  then  studied  for  awhile 
under  David  at  Paris  and  afterwards  went 
to  Rome.  Very  naturally  his  early  works 
were  all  in  the  classic  spirit;  but  even  in 
Rome  he  developed  a  fondness  for  the 
purely  picturesque,  to  find  which  he  did  not 
consider  it  necessary  to  look  for  classic 
ruins;  and,  after  his  return  to  Copenhagen, 
he  cultivated  a  closer  observation  of  nature 
than  had  been  the  custom  with  the  artists  (,f 
the  time.  In  looking  at  his  paintings  to-day, 
we  must  not  forget  how  little  artists  knew 
of  or  cared  for  color  and  painting  at  the  time 
in  the  rest  of  Europe.  Danish  painters  had 
never  gone  so  far  as  to  consider  the  use  of 
color  detrimental  to  art;  Eckersberg's  pre- 
decessors had  indeed  borrowed  from  the  old 
masters  a  certain  equality  of  tone,  but  Eckers- 
berg  relied  on  his  own  eyes  to  discover  the 
qualities  of  nature,  and  in  teaching  he  con- 
stantly dwelt  on  the  importance  of  using 
nature,  and  not  tradition,  as  a  model.  Thus 
he  laid  the  foundation  for  an  early  develop- 
ment of  a  truthful  and  realistic  ari  in  Den- 
mark. His  pupils  for  the  most  part  followed 
him  in  his  love  for  nature  and  painted 
scenes  from  contemporaneous  life  with  much 
care  for  detail,  thoutjh  of  little  coloristic 
merit,  a  quality  which  was  developed  later. 

"With  few  exceptions  his  pupils  avoided 
the  story-telling  (juality  in  their  pictures. 
One  such  exception  is  Vilhelm  Marstrand 
(1810- 1 873),  whose  works  are  genre  pictures 
with  a  humorous  satirical  vein  much  ad- 
mired in  his  time.  Nothing  is  so  sure  of 
success  in  art  as  something  aniusini^,  to  find 
which  the  people  go  to  the  theater,  read 
funny  stories,  and  scan  political  cartoons, 
often  to  the  neglect  of  worthier  material. 
Marstrand  traveled  a  good  deal,  spending 
much  time  in  Italy,  where,  for  a  time,  he 
came  under  the  sway  of  Ricdel.  Finally, 
his  humor  deserted  him  and  he  became 
very  sober  and  serious.  His  example  led 
other  artists  to  desert  Denmark  for  the 
South  and  the  East.  In  Rome  they  asso- 
ciated with  the  German  Romanticists,  and 
learned  to  replace  the  study  of  nature  by  an 
imitation  of  the  old  Italian  masters 

The  revolutionary  period  from  184S  to 
1850  put  an  end  to  this  danger  to  Danish 
art  and  led  the  painters  back  to  the  spirit  of 


Eckersberg.  They  again  devoted  their 
attention  to  native  landscape  and  native  life 
in  all  its  simple  truth,  without  the  humor- 
ous anecdote.  Such  artists  were  Julius 
Exner  (1825-),  Frederick  Vermehren  (1823-) 
and  Christen   Dalsgaard  (1S24-). 

While  elsewhere  laudscape  painting  was 
still  under  the  ban  of  Romanticism,  the 
Danes  developed  an  intimacy  of  feeling  for 
the  simple,  quiet  beauty  of  their  own  coun- 
try. Artists  like  Christen  Kobke  (1810- 
1S48)  and  P.  C.  Skovgaard  (1.S17-1876),  Vil- 
helm Kyhn  (1819-)  and  Gotfred  Rump  (1816- 
1 880),  are  all  men  with  an  appreciation  of  the 
picturesiiue  qualities  of  their  native  land. 

Among  the  marine  painters  the  foremost 
rank  must  be  accorded  to  Anton  Melbye 
(1818-1875.) 


P 


AINTIXG    IN    DENMARK.— a<«- 


But  the  excellent  qualities  all  these 
artists  possessed  cannot  make  one 
overlook  their  weak  technique.  In  this 
respect  the  rest  of  Europe  was  making 
rapid  strides  forward,  while  the  Danes  were 
still  laboring  in  their  quiet,  diligent,  old- 
fashioned  way.  In  1867  at  the  Exposition 
in  Paris,  where  Denmark  was  represented 
by  a  collective  exhibit,  their  great  shortcom- 
ing was  revealed  to  thein,  and  they  very 
soon  determined  upon  learning  to  paint. 
Artists  again  began  to  travel  to  foreign 
countries  in  order  to  study  the  methods  of 
foreign  masters.  As  is  but  natural,  the  first 
result  was  that  many  were  alienated  from 
home  traditions  to  sucli  an  extent  that  they 
became  foreigners  to  Danish  art.  Such  was 
Carl  Bloch  (1834-1890),  who  became  a  clever 
genre  painter  and  also  a  historical  painter 
of  note.  Axel  Helsted  (1847-),  Vilem 
Rosenstand  (1838-),  Mrs.  Elizabeth  Jeri- 
chan-Bsumann  (1S19-1S81)  and  others 
studied  in  Paris,  and  in  Germany,  sacrificing 
much,  if  not  all,  of  their  national  sentiment. 
The  one  man  who  succeeded  in  preserving 
his  strong  nationalitv  in  spite  of  foreign  study 
was  Christian  Zahrtmann  (1843-).  He 
is  a  staunch  realist  of  the  type  of  Rembrandt. 
In   t!ie   reproductions,   his   paintings   of   the 


634 


PAINTING  OF  THE  NINETEENTH 


Princess  Eleonora  Christina  bear  a  strong 
resemblance  to  the  works  of  this  master, 
though  in  color  effect  they  are  more  akin  to 
the  works  of  modern  painters. 

A  further  step  forward  in  Danish  painting 
dates  from  the  influence  of  Millet  and 
Bastien-Lepage.  Artists  had  fully  realized 
that  above  all  they  must  equip  themselves 
with  a  good  technique,  though  they  need  not 
therefore  sacrifice  their  nationality  and  their 
old-time  devotion  to  simple  truth  to  nature. 

The  chief  representative  of  this  latest  de- 
velopment in  the  art  of  Denmark  is  P.  S. 
Kroyer  (1851-).  Beginning  his  studies  at 
Copenhagen,  he  received,  at  the  Academy 
in  1874,  a  traveling  scholarship,  whereupon 
he  went  to  Paris  and  studied  first  under 
Bonnat,  then  spent  Siime  time  in  Brittany, 
painting   numerous   studies  of    the  peasants 


FISHERMEN.       ANCHfK. 


and  laborers,  and  finally  visited  Spain  and 
Italy.  His  painting  of  the  Italian  Village 
Hatter  gained  for  him  the  first  medal  in 
the  Paris  Salon  of  1881,  and  when  it  was 
exhibited  in  Denmark  it  created  a  profound 
impression,  marking,  indeed,  the  beginning 
of  a  new  period  in  Danish  art.  Returning 
to  his  native  land  he  at  once  began  to 
devote  himself  to  native  subjects,  painting 
the  sturdy  fishermen  at  their  toil.  He 
brought  to  bear  on  his  work  not  only  re- 
markable skill  in  technique,  which  he  had 
acquired  under  French  training,  but  also 
strong  characterization  and  a  refinement  of 
feeling  for  tone  entirely  his  own.  Kroyer 
is  a  manysided  artist  and  paints  figure,  land- 
scape and  marine  subjects  with  equal  skill, 
and  has  also  shown  ability  of  a  high  order 
as  a  sculptor.     One  of  his  most  notewcirthy 


paintings  is  the  large  portrait  group,  repre- 
senting the  Committee  of  Frenchmen  for  the 
Exhibition  at  Copenhagen  in  1888.  It  con- 
tains thirty-one  figures,  all  of  whom  are  men 
of  great  fame,  seated  or  standing  around  a 
long  table,  on  which  are  placed  two  petro- 
leum lamps,  shedding  their  warm  light  on 
the  immediate  surrounding,  while  through 
the  window  in  the  background  the  colder 
rays  of  waning  daylight  fall  on  the  figures 
near  by.  The  effect  of  this  double  lighting 
is  rendered  in  a  most  skillful  manner,  which 
makes  this  picture  one  of  the  most  impor- 
tant productions  of  modern  painting  and 
places  its  author  in  the  very  front  rank  of 
living  painters.  (See  the  full  page  cut, 
p.  637.)  Kroyer's  influence  on  Danish 
art  proved  most  healthful  and  far-reach- 
ing. To  a  great  extent  this  may  also 
be  said  of  his  friend  and  fellow-student, 
L.  Tuxen  (1853-),  who  acquired  his  great 
skill  also  under  French  teaching.  But  he 
has  not,  like  Kroyer,  remained  fully  the 
Dane  at  heart,  and  is  more  of  a  cosmopoli- 
tan. He  has  executed  many  important 
state  commissions,  mural  decorations  and 
portraits.  As  a  portrait  painter  A.  A.  Jern- 
dorff  (1846-)  displays  great  ability  and  strong 
power  tif  characterization.  The  painting  of 
more  intimate  Danish  life  finds  its  foremost 
representative,  in 

Viggo  Johansen  (185 1-),  and  the  same  in- 
timacy of  feeling,  the  same  quiet,  poetic  charm 
is  to  be  found  in  his  landscapes.  Johansen's 
example  is  followed  by  numerous  other  paint- 
ers, most  of  whom,  however,  confine  them- 
selves more  or  less  to  some  specialty. 

The  little  village  of  Skagen,  on  the  north- 
ern end  of  Jutland,  has  become  a  favorite 
resort  for  a  group  of  painters  of  great 
ability.  Kroyer  is  one  of  these,  while  to 
Michael  Ancher  (1849-),  and  his  wife, 
Anna  (1859-),  belongs  the  credit  of  having 
discovered  its  artistic  possibilities.  Mrs. 
Ancher  was  born  at  Skagen  and  when  about 
sixteen  years  old  began  to  study  art  at 
Copenhagen  under  Kyhm.  Then  she  re- 
turned to  her  native  village  and  painted 
the  fisher-folk  in  their  quiet  little  homes. 
Michael  Ancher  paints  the  fishermen  on 
the  sea  or  on  the  strand,  in  a  broad,  direct 
manner  without  grace  or  refinement,  which 


CENTURY  JX  RUSSIA,  HUNGARY  AND  BOHEMIA. 


635 


would  fail  to  agree  with  these  big,  heavy 
toilers  of  the  sea  with  their  weather-beaten 
skin  and  coarse,  heavy  garments. 

Other  painters  of  the  sea  are  Carl  Locher 
and  Thorolf  Pedersen,  with  whom  the  sea 
is  generally  sufficient  without  the  introduc- 
tion of  ships  or  figures;  it  is  a  somber  and 
majestic,  endless  waste. 

The  dreamy  melancholy  of  Danish  land- 
scape is  successfully  rendered  in  the  works 
of  the  younger  school.  There  is  a  strange 
fascination  in  the  works  of  Julius  Paulsen 
(i860-),  for  instance,  with  tlicir  broad, 
soft  and  deep  effects,  at  first  sight  not  at  all 
attractive.  Paulsen  is  also  a  figure  painter 
of  singular  strength,  revealed  especially  in 
his  portraits.  Among  his  figure  pieces  an 
Adam  and  Eve  created  much  comment  both 
on  account  of  its  singular  daring  in  composi- 
tion and  the  somewhat  too  broad  treatment 
of  the  landscape  background. 

Plein-air  painting  finds  noteworthy  repre- 
sentation in  a  number  of  young  men.  Viggo 
Pedersen  (1851-)  is  one  of  these;  he  has 
studied  French  impressionism,  and  applies 
his  skill  and  knowledge  mainly  to  Italian 
subjects.  Theodor  Philipsen  (1840-),  Chris- 
tian Zacho  (1843-)  and  G.Jttfred  Christensen 
(1845-),  are  likewise  noteworthy  for  the 
influence  they  exercised  on  Danish  landscape 
painting  by  emphasizing  the  element  of 
color.  A  reaction  against  pure  naturalism 
has  also  set  in  among  the  Danes;  there  is 
the  same  conviction  that  art  has  a  still  wider 
field  and  may  legitimately  deal  with  the 
purely  suggestive  and  decorative.  Begin- 
ning their  career  mostly  as  naturalistic  paint- 
ers, such  artists  as  Joachim  and  Nils  Skov- 
gaard  (sons of  the  famous  landscape  painter), 
Harald  (1864-)  and  Agnes  (1862-)  Slott- 
Mbller  and  notably  J.  F.  Willumsen  (1863-), 
and  V.  Hammershoy  (1S64-),  are  forming 
an  entirely  new  school  in  Danish  art,  which 
has  replaced  the  strong  and  direct  natural- 
ism of  their  predecessors  by  a  soft,  dreamy 
suggestiveness,  mainly  decorative  in  effect. 

As  in  other  countries,  the  more  advanced 
painters  of  Denmark  foiuid  it  advisable  to 
form  a  closer  union  among  themselves,  and 
to  bring  their  works  before  the  public  in 
separate  exhibitions.  These  have  become 
known  as  "The  Free  Exhibitions." 


P 


AINTIN'G     IN      RUSSIA,     HUN- 
GARY   AND     BOHEMIA.  (24) 


The  art  of  Russia  is  still  little 
known  in  western  countries,  and  is 
not  likely  to  become  a  subject  of  very  deep 
interest  for  some  time.  Perhaps  unjustly. 
To  the  student  of  art,  who  draws  his  lessons 
as  well  from  the  shortcomings  as  from  the 
merits  of  others,  the  struggles  of  these 
artists  to  find  an  adequate  expression  for 
their  intenfe,  pent-up  feelings  have  some- 
thing pathetic.  Before  we  gain  a  more 
thorough  knowledge  of  the  people  than  we 
now  possess,  we  cannot  expect  to  have  any 
very  deep  sympathy  with  their  art;  and  the 
praises  sung — not  loudly,  either! — by  their 
native  writers  anent  the  achievements  of 
Russian  painters,  bring  no  conviction  to 
our  unprepared  minds.  Even  in  Repin, 
whom  they  delight  to  honor  as  their  greatest 
artist,  we  fail  to  find  any  element  of  refine- 
ment which  alone  could  make  his  art 
thoroughly  palatable.  At  the  World's  Fair 
at  Chicago  he  was  represented  by  one  paint- 
ing, the  Cossack's  Answer,  which  shows  the 
artist  at  the  height  of  his  powers.  But  even 
here,  in  spite  of  his  skillful  technique,  ac- 
quired in  Paris,  one  could  not  help  being 
repulsed  by  the  brutality  of  it  all.  Still,  it 
would  be  unjust  to  weigh  the  merits  of 
R6pin  by  this  one  picture. 

The  first  artist  of  the  century  who  com- 
mands our  attention  is  Orest  Kiprensky 
(1783-1836),  who  has  undeniable  merits  as  a 
portrait  painter.  His  contemporar)',  Alex- 
ander Orlovsky  (i 777-1832),  was  the  first 
battle  painter  of  any  note.  As  elsewhere, 
the  painter  of  peasants  appeared  next; 
Alexei  Venezianov  (1779-1845),  became  the 
Biirkel  of  Russia.  The  following  period 
was  that  of  historical  painting,  in  which 
Karl  Briilov  (1799-1852),  achieved  an  unpar- 
alleled success  by  his  sensational  painting. 
The  Fall  of  Pompeii,  which  created  bound- 
less admiration  wherever  it  was  exhibited; 
and  yet,  it  is  a  poor  work  of  art,  a  combina- 
tion of  conventional  stagesettings  and  Ben- 
gal fireworks.  Still,  it  awakened  in  Russia  a 
desire  for  color  in  painting;  unfortunately,  it 
also  served  as  an  example  for  artists,  whose 
only  ambition  it  became  to  equal  Briilov. 


PAIXTLXG  OF  THE  NINETEENTH 


After  a  flood  of  historical  art  had  swept 
over  the  land,  there  arose  those  who  desired 
to  express  reality.  Alexander  Ivanov 
(1806-1858)  devoted  himself  to  a  close  and 
conscientious  study  of  nature  and  after  pre- 
paring himself  fur  some  twenty  odd  years, 
produced  the  Messiah  Appearing  Amongst 
the  People,  a  work  falling  far  short  of  the 
promising  sketches,  but  interesting,  none 
the  less,  as  an  example  of  early  attempts  at 
realism. 

Artists  now  began  to  paint  t!ie  life  of  the 
people  around  them,  after  literature  had 
shown  the  way.  Genre-painting  scored  its 
first  decided  success  with  P.  Fedotov  (1815- 


COSSACK.S     ANSWKR   TO    THE   SULTAN.      REPIN 


1852),  who  was  followed  b)^  a  number  of 
painters,  laying  special  stress  on  the  humor- 
ous point  of  their  compositions. 

With  changing  political  conditions  the 
picture  "with  a  social  purpose"  came  into 
existence.  Vassily  Perov  (1833-1882),  is 
the  most  important  and  withal  the  health- 
iest among  the  artists  devoting  them- 
selves to  this  particular  realm  ;  while  the  one 
who  has  become  mc.st  widely  known  is  Vas- 
sily Verestchagin  (1S42-),  who  attempted  to 
become  the  apostle  of  peace  by  picturing  the 
horrors  of  war. 

Through  the  careful  observation  of  nature 
by  the  landscape  painters,  the  simple  and 
truthful  rendering  of  figures  was  again 
brought    to    the    attention   of    artists,    who 


gradually  learned  to  dispense  with  the  use 
of  anecdote  in  their  paintings.  This  move- 
ment culminated  in  the  revolt  of  a  number 
of  Academy  students  at  St.  Petersburg,  in 
1863,  who  refused  to  be  dictated  to  concern- 
ing a  choice  of  subject  for  a  competitive  com 
position.  The  leader  of  this  group  was  Ivan 
Kramskoi  (1837-18S7),  whose  ideas  were  far 
ahead  of  his  ability,  though  it  was  he  who 
gave  to  Rus.^ian  art  a  new  life.  These  young 
secessionists  formed  the  nucleus  around 
which  the  artists  of  advanced  and  modern 
ideas  soon  began  to  cluster.  The  "Society 
for  Traveling  Exhibitions"  is  the  medium 
through   which   their   ideas   and   works   are 

carried  to  all  parts 
of  the  empire,  and 
they  thus  consti- 
tute the  most  effec- 
tive  national 
school  of  art.  Not 
all  of  these  young 
men  have  attained 
to  any  great  emi- 
nence; some,  in- 
deed have  rather 
early  deserted  the 
fundamental  doc- 
trines advanced  by 
the  original  "thir- 
teen," like  the 
much  admired 
Contantin  Ma* 
kovsky  (1839-) 
for  instance,  who 
has  done  so  much  to  misrepresent  Russian 
art.  Nor  is  his  younger  brother  Vladimir 
(1846-),  characteristic  of  what  these  young 
enthusiasts  aspired  to  become. 

All  that  was  best  and  genuine  in  their 
ideas  seems  to  have  finally  centered  in  Elias 
Repin  (1844-).  In  Paris  and  Italy  he 
acquired  his  remarkable  technique  without 
losing  his  national  traits,  and  when  he 
returned  home  established  at  once  his  claim 
to  being  the  greatest  painter  of  his  country 
by  producing  a  remarkable  picture.  Men 
Towing  a  Ship  Up  the  River  Volga. 
Though  not  ostensibly  animated  by  any  social 
purpose,  the  pictures  of  Repin  appear  to 
offset  those  of  Verestchagin:  the  latter 
pleads  for  peace  through  the  horrors  of  war. 


CENTURY  IN  RUSSIA,  HUNGARY  AND  BOHEMIA. 


639 


while  Repiii  would  seem  to  justify  revolu- 
tion by  picturing  the  horrible  oppression 
and  debasement  of  the  masses.  In  the  pic- 
ture mentioned,  a  number  of  beings,  scarcely 
human  in  their  dull  resignation,  are  yoked 
together,  not  unlike  oxen,  pulling  a  clumsy 
bark  up  stream,  while  the  sun  is  beating 
down  hotly  upon  their  shelterless  path. 

This  same  sad  note  of  oppression  is  ever 
present  in  his  pictures  of  the  people,  whom 
he  paints  with  profound  knowledge.  When 
he  ventures  into  history,  he  delights  in  the 
horrible  and  bloody,  as  in  his  Ivan  the 
Cruel,  who  is  represented,  with  sickening 
realism,  having  slain  his  son  in  a  fit  of 
anger.  Where  he  tries  to  be  neither  sad 
nor  horrible,  his  humor  takes  the  shape  of 
brutal  Cossack  jokes. 

Such,  then,  is  the  final  stage  of  Russian 
art  at  the  end  of  the  nineteenth  century. 
Of  all  the  art  we  have  considered,  it  is 
the  least  sympathetic,  is,  in  fact  rather 
repulsive  to  our  finer  sensibilities.  Still, 
we  cannot  help  acknowledging  that  it  con- 
tains the  elements  of  progress,  because  it  is 


based  on  truth;  if  this  truth  is  of  a  kind  to 
make  us  shudder,  we  can  only  hope  that  it 
may  serve  a  beneficent  purpose  in  the 
end. 

If  the  mere  choice  of  national  subjects  by 
artists  were  sufficient  to  establish  a  national 
art,  then,  truly,  Hungary  has  ample  cause 
to  boast  of  such;  for,  in  whatever  country 
the  Hungarian  painters  may  have  estab- 
lished their  temporary  or  permanent  home, 
they  almost  invariably  resort  to  the  life  of 
their  native  country  in  their  choice  of  sub- 
jects. But  the  language  of  their  brush  is 
that  of  the  foreign  schools:  Munich,  or 
Vienna,  or  Paris,  notably  the  first,  where 
the  majority  of  their  famous  masters  have 
absorbed  the  teachings  of  Piloty  and  his 
followers. 

The  most  \videly-known  of  Hungarian 
painters  is  undoubtedly  Michael  Munkacsy 
(1844-1900).  While  history  will  probably 
not  accord  him  the  eminent  position  claimed 
for  him  by  his  admirers,  it  cannot  be  denied 
that  he  achieved  brilliant  success  during  his 
lifetime.   He  studied  awhile  at  Munich,  then 


CHRIST   BKFORK    IMLATF,.       Ml'NKACSY. 


640 


PAINTING  OF  THE  NINETEENTH  CENTURY  IN  BOHEMIA 


at  Diisseldorf,  under  Knaus,  and,  against 
the  latter's  advice,  undertook  to  paint  the 
picture  which  at  once  assured  him  great 
fame,  The  Last  Days  of  a  Condemned 
Criminal.  Thereupon  he  went  to  Paris 
where  he  entered  upon  a  most  prosperous 
career,  painting,  at  first,  a  number  of  genie 
pictures  illustrative  of  Hungarian  life.  A 
picture  of  himself  and  wife  in  his  stiulio 
(now  at  the  Layton  Gallery  in  Milwaukee) 
and,  soon  after,  his  Milton  Dictating  Para- 
dise Lost  to  his  Daughters  (now  at  the 
Lennox  Librar}',  New  York),  served  to 
make  his  fame  secure,  although  he  continued 
to  feel  dissatisfied  with  himself.  Spurred 
to  the  utmost  by  his  own  ambition  as  well 
as  that  of  speculating  art  dealers,  he  em- 
barked on  the  field  of  historical  painting, 
producing  at  first  Christ  Before  Pilate,  soon 
followed  by  an  equally  large  canvas  Gol- 
gotha. Both  pictures  were  exhibited  in 
nearly  all  the  principal  cities  of  Europe  and 
America,  being  heralded  everywhere  as  the 
unsurpassable  masterpieces  of  modern  art. 
Thereafter,  numerous  portraits,  especially 
of  ladies  in  richly  furnished  surroundings, 
and  genre  pictures  of  more  or  less  merit 
emanated  from  his  prolific  brush.  But 
under  the  stress  of  more  ambitious  works 
his  mental  and  physical  powers  gradually 
began  to  give  wa}',  until  after  the  comple- 
tion of  an  Ecce  Homo,  in  1S97,  he  laid  down 
his  brush  forever. 

Julius  Benczur  (1844),  at  present  director 
of  the  Hungarian  Academy  at  Buda-Pesth, 
is  known  as  the  most  skillful  imitator  of 
his  master,  Piloty.  Of  late  he  has  devoted 
himself  mainly  to  portraiture,  though  his- 
torical painting  still  occupies  his  attention. 

Alexander  Wagner  (1838-),  and  Alex- 
ander Liezen-Mayer  (1S39-1898),  both  pupils 
of  Piloty,  became  professors  at  the  Munich 
Academ)',  and  have  done  but  little  to  ad- 
vance their  country's  art. 

Though  many  also  desire  to  pose  as  his- 
torical painters,  the  majority  of  Hungarian 
artists  devote  themselves  to  the  painting  of 
genre  pictures.  They  have  added  nothing 
new  to  modern  art,  and  seem  mostly  content 


tT  aspire  to  the  distinction  of  becoming 
Hungarian  Defreggers,  Knauses,  Griitz- 
ners,  etc.,  replacing  the  German  by  Hun- 
garian peasant's  costumes  or  uniforms. 
They  are,  largely,  clever  painters,  and  not 
slow  to  adapt  themselves  to  modern 
thoughts  and  methods  prevailing  at  the 
foreign  schools  where  they  study. 

Much  the  same  applies  to  the  modern  art 
of  Bohemia,  the  majority  of  whose  painters 
owe  their  education  to  Munich. 

Vacslav  Brozic  (1852-igoi)  after  vainly 
attempting  to  enlist  the  interest  of  Piloty, 
finally  turned  to  Paris,  where  he  rose  to 
prominence  as  a  painter  of  historical  sub- 
jects, and,  on  the  whole,  though  in  a  less 
brilliant  fashion,  had  a  career  similar  to  that 
of  Munkacsy.  He,  too,  was  induced  by 
circumstances  and  the  commercialism  of  art 
dealers  lo  devote  his  great  talent  to  his- 
torical pictures  on  a  large  scale,  and,  thus, 
like  the  great  Hungarian,  remained  uninflu- 
enced by  the  spirit  of  progress  in  modern 
art,  A  picture  typical  of  his  style  is  Colum- 
bus Before  the  Council  at  Salamanca,  now 
at  the  Metropolitan   Museum  in   New  York. 

In  spite  of  their  stubborn  attempts  to 
impress  upon  the  world  the  importance  of 
their  independent  Slavonic  nationality,  the 
Bohemians  do  not  display  any  strong 
national  traits  in  art;  with  them,  too,  it  is 
merely  in  the  selection  of  local  themes, 
while  the  manner  of  their  expression  is 
entirely  that  of  their  neighbors  among 
whom  they  chiefly  dwell. 

So,  too,  it  is  with  the  Poles.  Their  best 
known  artists  have,  to  all  intents  and  pur- 
poses, become  either  Germans,  or  Austrians, 
or  Frenchmen ;  and  a  Polish  art  exists  almost 
in  name  only.  Joseph  Brandt  (1841-),  Al- 
fred Kowalski-"Wierusz  and  Jan  Rosen, 
though  all  painting  Polish  subjects,  owe 
their  art  education  to  Munich,  where  they 
also  have  their  permanent  residence.  Jan 
Matejko  (1838-1892)  .who  was  director  of 
the  Academy  at  Crakow,  may  be  called  the 
Polish  Piloty;  but  though  coming  after  him, 
he  has  not  advanced  art  much  beyond  the 
latter's  doctrine. 


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